Taiwanese authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the driver of a construction vehicle, which is said to be the cause of a train derailment in which at least 50 people were killed.
The Taroko Express on Friday carried nearly 500 people along the east coast of the island, the first day of a religious festival when families gather to honor their ancestors, when it crashed into a tunnel just outside the city of Hualien.
Police believe the train hit a truck that slid off the tracks of a maintenance work on the tracks. The front carriages of the train derailed and piled up inside the tunnel, pinned against the walls and tore and tore.
Dozens were killed, including the 33-year-old train driver, an assistant driver, a six-year-old girl and a French citizen. More than 70 others were trapped inside for hours, while other survivors broke windows and crawled along the train roof to escape.
The driver of the truck was not in it when it slipped, and police suspected it was ‘incorrectly parked’. He was taken in for questioning on Friday afternoon, and Yu Hsiu-duan, director of the prosecution, Hualien, later told reporters an arrest warrant had been requested.
“To preserve relevant evidence, we have several groups of prosecutors at the scene and they are looking for the necessary locations,” Yu said.
The prosecutor’s office confirmed that he had interviewed the truck driver, among other things, but was not ready to lodge a complaint. Prosecutors visited a morgue on Saturday to examine the bodies, Chou Fang-yi, a spokesman for the office said.
About 150 people were injured in the crash, and 48 people were pronounced dead at the scene. Two of the injured later died at the hospital. On Saturday morning, 40 people remained in hospital, including four in intensive care. Authorities said on Saturday that 496 people were on board, including four rail crews, 372 passengers and 120 standing passengers.
Authorities have warned that the death toll could rise, as some body parts have yet to be properly identified. A rescuer at the crash site also said they were not sure if there could still be corpses in the wrecked wagons in the tunnel.
A Red Cross rescuer told local media that the scene was “like a living hell” upon their arrival, suggesting there were a number of children and babies among the dead.
“Chairs were engulfed, objects were scattered across the floor and blood was everywhere,” Lin Chi-feng told CNA.
“It was heartbreaking to see so many children and babies die in the crash,” he said.
All survivors were freed from the wreckage by Friday afternoon, and salvage crews began cleaning the rear wagons of the track on Saturday, but the damaged wagons remained stuck in the tunnel. Railway authorities said it would take another week to clean up the site and resume their services.
The Taiwanese government has ordered that all flags be flown in half-mast for three days, to honor the victim of the worst rail disaster to hit the island in decades. President Tsai Ing-wen visited injured survivors in hospitals on Saturday.