The death toll in the horrific passenger train crash in Taiwan on Friday climbed to at least 49, with 66 injured, after it struck an unmanned vehicle that had rolled down a hill, according to reports.
Officials said the deadly derailment may have been caused by a maintenance vehicle striking the train before it entered the tunnel near the coastal city of Hualien, Agence France-Presse reported.
“There was a construction vehicle that didn’t park properly and slid onto the rail track,” police Chief Tsai Ding-hsien told reporters.
Images from the disaster scene showed the back of a yellow flatbed truck on its side next to the train.
The eight-car train was packed with almost 500 people heading down the east coast for the annual Tomb Sweeping Festival, a four-day public holiday, according to AFP.
Rescuers moving body bags of victims from the train derailment in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said 66 people have been hospitalized.
Rescue crew seen at the site of the accident on April 2, 2021.
One survivor told TVBS news channel passengers were also trapped — some crying out for help, while others were unconscious.
People walk next to a damaged train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021, in this still image taken from video.
“There were many people pressed under the seats and others on top of those seats too,” the unnamed woman told the outlet.
A passenger walks along a derailed train in Hualien County in eastern Taiwan Friday, April 2, 2021.
President Tsai Ing-wen, who visited an emergency response center in the capital Taipei, said investigators “will definitely clarify the cause of the incident that has caused major casualties.”
She added: “I hope the deceased can rest in peace and the wounded can recover soon.”
A rescue team attempting to find survivors amid the wreckage of the derailment.
A live Facebook broadcast by UDN at the scene showed rescuers helping passengers escape.
Rescuers transfer a body at Xincheng railway station after a train derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan.
“It felt like there was a sudden violent jolt and I found myself falling to the floor,” an unidentified female survivor told the network.
Officials with rescue K-9 units headed to the scene of the accident.
“We broke the window to climb to the roof of the train to get out,” said the woman, who suffered a cut to her head.
Passengers walking out of the train after the accident.
Another woman who survived the disaster said: “People just fell all over each other, on top of one another. It was terrifying. There were whole families there,” Reuters reported.
Members of the Tzu Chi Foundation pay their respects as rescuers transfer bodies at Xincheng railway station.
A passenger with gauze taped to her elbow told Taiwanese broadcaster EBC: “Many people were crushed under train seats in the collision. And there were other people on top of the seats. So those at the bottom were pressed and crushed and lost consciousness.
“It felt like there was a sudden violent jolt and I found myself falling to the floor,” an unidentified female survivor told UDN.
“At the beginning, they still responded when we called them. But I guess they lost consciousness afterward,” she added.
Rescuers transfer bodies at Xincheng railway station on April 2, 2021.
The train had only partially emerged from the tunnel, and with much of it still inside, many passengers were forced to scramble out of doors and windows to walk along the roof to safety.
A member of the rescue crew examining the wreckage.
Taiwan’s last major rail crash was in October 2018, when a train derailed while rounding a tight corner on the northeast coast, killing at least 18 people and injuring nearly 200.
Officials seen where the deadly train derailment occurred.
In 1991, a collision killed 30 people and another crash a decade earlier also killed 30. Those were said to be the worst previous crashes on the rail system that dates from the late 19th century.
Rescue workers walk next to a damaged train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021.
With Post wires
