Relatives mourn bus crash victims
Print Edition
DISTRAUGHT relatives in Taiwan gathered to mourn their loved ones yesterday after a bus carrying elderly local tourists flipped on its side and left 33 dead in one of the island’s worst road accidents.
A 44-strong group had been returning from a trip to see seasonal cherry blossom at a farm in the central Taichung region when their bus veered off a highway ramp on Monday night on the outskirts of Taipei.
TV footage showed the top of the vehicle ripped off, with occupants tossed onto the roadside.
The latest victim died yesterday morning after suffering multiple injuries and internal bleeding, Wanfang Hospital said, bringing the toll to 33. Both the driver and tour guide were killed.
Police are investigating whether the bus had been speeding.
Highway police spokesman Ma Ling-wen said the speed limit on the ramp was 40kph but it was not clear how fast the bus had been going. Ma said speed had not yet been ruled out as a cause of the crash.
Dashcam footage from a vehicle behind the bus shows it turning off the main highway onto an adjoining road. It then flips over, leaving behind a mangled pile of metal which was cleared later by cranes.
The bus driver’s daughter, Kang Yi-jen, described her father as overworked, according to local media.
“I think he was fatigued while driving. My father worked very hard to pay our mortgage and tuition but they are trying to lay the blame on him,” she told reporters.
Some reports said the driver had been working for 14 hours straight. But Ringo Lee of the Travel Agent Association of Taiwan said the driver had had “sufficient rest” before taking the group to the popular scenic area of Wuling.
Passengers were asleep at the time of the crash. One survivor described it as “hell.”
“The bus was lopsided when it was passing the turn and people were waking up and screaming,” 54-year-old Hsiao Shiu-hua told the China Times.
Relatives were at the scene yesterday to perform a religious ritual for the dead. They threw banknotes toward the slope where the bus crashed and chanted prayers.
Family members also gathered at a Taipei funeral parlor where some bodies are being stored. One said the agency that organized the trip should “take responsibility” for the disaster.
Dozens of Buddhist volunteers flanked the entrance to the hall, praying for the dead.
The driver had two outstanding traffic violations, including one for not wearing a seatbelt, but no drunk-driving record, according to the transport authority.
Lee added that the 19-year-old bus was a “high-class vehicle.” The transport authority said it was due for a check in April.
It was the latest in a series of deadly incidents in Taiwan after a bus fire last July killed 25 tourists from China’s mainland.
An investigation into the incident, also outside Taipei, found the driver had intentionally set fire to his bus in a suicide bid before veering into a crash barrier.
Earlier this month, 21 mainland tourists suffered injuries after their bus rammed into a railway bridge in southern Taiwan.
Monday’s accident was the island’s deadliest since a tour bus crashed into a ravine on a winding mountain road on October 8, 1986, killing 42 people.
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