HUALIEN COUNTY, Taiwan (AP) – Prosecutors in Taiwan said on Saturday they questioned the owner of an unmanned truck that rolled onto a railroad and caused the worst train disaster in decades that killed 51 people and injured 146, although no charges have been filed. .
The train was carrying 494 people at the start of a long holiday weekend on Friday, when it collided with the construction truck sliding down a hill above the tracks, the Taiwan Railways Administration said. Many passengers were crushed just before the train entered a tunnel, while some survivors were forced to climb out of the window and walk along the roof of the train to safety.
According to the government emergency response center, the truck’s emergency brake was not properly activated.
The prosecution in eastern Hualien County, where the train derailed, confirmed that it had interviewed the owner of the truck, among other things, but was unwilling to press charges. The prosecution visited a morgue on Saturday to examine the bodies, office spokeswoman Chou Fang-yi said.
President Tsai Ing-wen was due to visit the site later 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 delays,” she said.
Transport Minister Lin Chia-long said repairs will be accelerated.
“If something like this happens, I am very sorry and will take full responsibility,” said Lin after visiting the site.
Taiwan Railways Chief Chi Wen-chung said his team successfully cleared the first derailed carriage from the site.
Two large construction cranes were set up next to the train as workers surveyed and removed some sections in a remote wooded cliff area on the island’s east coast.
There was also repair work on the tracks, including the tunnel where part of the eight-car train crashed. The operation should be completed within a week, said Weng Hui-ping, head of the railway administration newsgroup. During the repairs, all east coast trains will run on a track parallel to the track damaged in the accident, causing delays of 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
The National Fire Service confirmed the death toll – including the young, newly married train driver and assistant driver – and said more than 100 people were injured. The government’s disaster relief center said it was the worst railway disaster in 73 years.
Rail travel is popular on Taiwan’s four-day Tomb Sweeping holiday, when families often return to their hometowns to pay respects at the graves of their elders.
Taiwan is a mountainous island and most of the 24 million people live in the plains along the northern and western coasts, where most of the island’s agricultural land, largest cities and high-tech industries are found. The sparsely populated east where the crash occurred is popular with tourists, many of whom travel there by train to avoid mountain roads.
Jennings reported from Taipei, Taiwan.