“Deeply regrets” one of the most serious railway disasters in Taiwan’s history, caused by the accident of a truck driver whose parked vehicle skidded on the tracks. Li Yi Hsiang, 49, “sincerely apologize” for what happened. For now, authorities are still investigating whether the truck skidded from the side of the hill due to Lee’s fault, which means he forgot to apply the parking brake or something went wrong with the car.
At least fifty people were killed and more than two hundred were injured in Friday’s accident. Based on footage from a safety camera taped to the front basket of the train, the driver of the train pulling out of the turn had only 6.9 seconds to respond to the truck on its way, which was only 250 meters in front of it. There was not enough time and space to train at 130 km / h to avoid a collision.
Litt was detained and questioned after the incident and then released on bail. Ultimately, he was arrested again on Sunday, saying that Lee, who had been previously convicted, was in danger of running away and hiding. Lee read his apology to reporters before that, in front of his house. He also said that he is cooperating with the authorities investigating the incident. He said, “I take responsibility for what I have to take,” then the police took him away.
By the way, Lee was a member of the group that regularly inspected landslide-prone sections along the East Taiwan Railway through the mountains, specifically to avoid such tragedies. On Friday, this stretch was unfortunate when a train full of nearly five hundred passengers, possibly without a seat, could only stand in front of a tunnel because of the crowds traveling for a long weekend, Lee collided with a truck sliding from the side of the hill into the rails in front of the tunnel.
Taiwan’s Minister of Transportation, Lin Xia Long, has resigned after the train crash. (Across BBC)
