Taiwan train crash kills 36 in deadliest rail tragedy in decades

Reuters | Taipei

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

At least 36 people were killed and 72 injured when a Taiwan train derailed in a tunnel on Friday after apparently hitting a truck in the island’s worst rail disaster in at least four decades, reported Reuters. 

The train, an express travelling from Taipei to Taitung carrying many tourists and people heading home at the start of a long weekend, came off the rails north of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, the fire department said. 

The train was carrying around 350 people, the fire department said. Taiwan media said many people were standing as the train was so full, and were thrown about when it crashed. 

Between 80 to 100 people were evacuated from the first four carriages of the train, while carriages five to eight have “deformed” and are hard to gain access to, it added. 

The official Central News Agency said a truck that was “not parked properly” was suspected of sliding into the path of the train. The fire department showed a picture of what appeared to be the truck’s wreckage lying next to the derailed train. 

Taiwan’s mountainous east coast is a popular tourist destination, and the railway line from Taipei down the east coast is renowned for its tunnels and route that hugs the coast just north of Hualien where the crash occurred. 

The line connecting Taipei with Hualien was only opened in 1979. In 2018, 18 people died and 175 were injured when a train derailed in northeastern Taiwan. In 1981, 30 were killed in a collision in northern Taiwan.