HUALIEN COUNTY, Taiwan (AP) – Taiwan prosecutors said Saturday they questioned the owner of an unmanned truck that rolled over a railroad and caused the worst train disaster in the country in decades. 51 people and injured 146, although no charges were filed. .
The train was carrying 494 people on Friday at the start of a long holiday weekend when it collided with a construction truck sliding on a hill above the railways, the Taiwan Railways Administration said. Many passengers were crushed just before the train entered a tunnel, while some survivors were forced to climb on the windows and walk safely along the roof of the train.
The truck’s emergency brake was not applied properly, according to the government’s disaster relief center.
The district prosecutor’s office in eastern Hualien County, where the train derailed, confirmed that it had interviewed, among other things, the owner of the truck, but was not prepared to file charges. Prosecutor’s staff visit a mortuary on Saturday to examine the bodies, said Chou Fang-yi, a spokesman for the office.
President Tsai Ing-wen was due to visit the site later on Saturday.
“We have asked the Transportation Safety Committee to conduct a strict investigation into the accident, and after we have fully clarified the cause of the accident, we will explain it to everyone,” Tsai told reporters on Friday.
“We ask passengers to forgive us for any delay,” she said.
Transport Minister Lin Chia-lung said the repairs would be speeded up.
“When something like this happens, I’m very sorry and I take full responsibility,” Lin said after visiting the site.
Taiwan’s railway administration chief Chi Wen-chung said his team had successfully removed the first derailed carriage.
Two large construction cranes could be seen pulled near the train, while workers examined and removed some parts in a remote area of forested rock off the east coast of the island.
Repair work was also carried out on the rails, including in the tunnel where part of the eight-car train crashed. The operation is expected to take place within a week, said Weng Hui-ping, head of the railway administration’s news group. During the repairs, all the trains on the east coast will run on a track parallel to the one damaged in the accident, causing delays of 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
The National Fire Service confirmed the death toll – which included the young newlywed train driver and the assistant driver – and said more than 100 people were injured. The government’s disaster response center said it was the worst rail disaster in 73 years.
Train travel is popular during Taiwan’s four-day grave vacation, when families often return to their hometowns to pay homage to the graves of their elders.
Taiwan is a mountainous island, and most of its 24 million people live in the plains along the northern and western coasts, which are home to most of the island’s agricultural land, major cities and high-tech industries. The slightly populated east where the accident took place is popular with tourists, many of whom travel there by train to avoid mountain roads.
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Jennings reported from Taipei, Taiwan.