“I’m deeply sorry and want to express my sincere apologies,” truck driver Lee Yi-hsiang said on Sunday. “I will cooperate with the investigation by police and prosecutors to take the necessary responsibility.”
Lee was granted bail on Saturday, but the Hualien District Court later revoked his bail, citing the possibility that he could try to flee, team up with others or destroy evidence, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
According to the CNA report, investigators are investigating whether the brake truck’s brake was not engaged properly – due to mechanical failure or human negligence.
CEOC revised its death toll Monday from 51 to 50. The train driver is among the dead, according to the Taiwan Fire Department.
According to CEOC, 163 of the injured were discharged and 37 are still being treated.
Government response
The train came off the track in a tunnel just north of Hualien, causing several carriages to hit the tunnel wall, and took place just as a long weekend began for the Tomb Sweeping Day public holiday.
The crash site is located just east of the scenic Taroko National Park, a popular tourist destination on the island’s mountainous east coast.
Taiwan’s Transport Minister Lin Chia-lung has offered to resign in a telephone conversation with Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang on Sunday, saying he wants to retire and take responsibility for the crash, CNA reported.
Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng told reporters that Taiwanese Prime Minister praised Lin for showing responsibility but did not want to discuss the resignation.
The government has already drawn up a compensation plan for each passenger, providing NT $ 5.3 million ($ 185,500) to the families of each emergency amount. Those seriously injured will each receive $ 91,000 and other injured passengers $ 14,000, officials said.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday her government would “continue to do everything in our power to ensure [passenger] safety in the aftermath of this heartbreaking incident. ‘
CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Joyce Huang, Rob Pichet, Reuters, Chandler Thornton, Zamira Rahim and journalist Andy Lee in Taipei reported.