Getty Scenes from the Taiwan train crash
Dramatic videos captured the aftermath of the tragic Taiwan train crash that killed at least 51 people.
According to CNN, the train was a passenger train carrying 490 people. Dozens of people were injured in addition to the 51 deaths. CNN said the train was headed down the east side of Taiwan when a vehicle on a road above the railroad had a mishap of some kind. The construction truck “skidded down” the mountain, and the train hit it. The train is capable of going at 90 miles per hour. It hit the vehicle as it entered the tunnel, according to CNN.
Some people walked out of the train, but the driver was killed and more than 150 were injured. CNN reported that it was a tough terrain for rescues, especially because half of the train was still in the tunnel. The network said some passengers had to smash out windows with luggage to escape the derailed train.
Some videos showed people being rescued after the train derailed in a tunnel.
VIDEO: Rescuers on scene at deadly Taiwan train derailment.
Taiwan rescuers are scrambling to reach passengers trapped inside a train derailed inside a tunnel, as dozens of people are feared dead in the crash pic.twitter.com/w0uxd8SOxY
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 2, 2021
Here’s what you need to know:
Other Videos Showed the Aftermath of the Derailment
BREAKING: Death toll from Taiwan train crash rises to 48
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 2, 2021
Other videos emerged showing the scene. Some videos showed people on stretchers.
Dozens have been killed and over a hundred injured in a train crash and derailment in Hualien, Taiwan on Friday. The train is believed to have hit a crane truck that slid onto the track while working on a nearby hillside. https://t.co/0NhJpnzP6S pic.twitter.com/HtjdTBcUzW
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 2, 2021
NPR reported that the train was an express train.
“People just fell all over each other, on top of one another,” a woman who survived the crash told Reuters. “It was terrifying. There were whole families there.”
Taiwan train crash kills dozens in country’s deadliest rail tragedy in decades https://t.co/nflifKiTUk pic.twitter.com/15zG7wOwz8
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) April 2, 2021
NPR reported that the truck that slid down the mountain was operated by the railway. “At present it is suspected because the vehicle wasn’t braked properly, it slid for around 20 meters along the site access road and entered the eastern trunk line,” Feng Hui-sheng, Taiwan Railways Administration deputy director, said, according to NPR.
A train partially derailed along Taiwan's east coast killing at least 48 people and injuring dozens.
The crash is the island's worst rail disaster in decades.pic.twitter.com/uYpV25EhZG
— DW Hotspot Asia (@dw_hotspotasia) April 2, 2021
According to South China Morning Post, the victims included the train’s engineer, Yuan Chun-hsiu, 33, and mechanic, Chiang Pei-feng, 32.
Some Videos Showed the Inside of the Tunnel
🇹🇼 At least 36 people are feared dead and 72 remain trapped after Taiwan’s worst train crash in at least four decades.
Carriages were apparently derailed by a falling truck on one of the island’s most popular routes.
Read more: https://t.co/pQyLjwXkCQ pic.twitter.com/qfXljtnkq7
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 2, 2021
Videos emerged showing the inside of the tunnel. Some people died because train cars they were in slammed against the tunnel, crushing them, according to South China Morning Post.
At least 51 dead in Taiwan as train derails after truck rolls down hill onto track.
Crash occurred on 1st day of long holiday weekend when many people were travelling to hometowns dead and many more injured after a train collided with a construction truck that had rolled down . pic.twitter.com/Y2fb17rhj4— Samson Nyimu (@SamsonNyimu2) April 2, 2021
According to that news site, the construction truck was left on the hill by the head of the site, 49-year-old Lee Yi-hsiang, and may have not been properly braked.
A train crash in Taiwan has left at least 36 people without vital signs, the Transportation Ministry says, and many passengers remain trapped. pic.twitter.com/xtqB2U5oFe
— Markets Today (@marketstodays) April 2, 2021
“We are investigating if the truck’s brakes had been put on properly or if there were other human or mechanical errors involved,” Feng Hui-sheng said, according to South China Morning Post.
According to the Guardian, one survivor said, “The train suddenly stopped and it started shaking, then the collision happened,” and another survivor said he was knocked unconscious and awoke to people using their phones for light. He said: “I could not bear to look. Many people were lying down,” he said.
The train had eight cars.
“Chairs were mangled, objects were scattered all over the floor, and blood was everywhere,” Lin Chi-feng told CNA. That site said that a rescue worker described a horrific scene with “scattered body parts and sounds of people crying in a crumpled train carriage.”
“It was heartbreaking to see so many children and infants die in the accident,” the rescuer told CNA.
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