The truck that caused Taiwan’s worst train crash in decades was on the line for just over a minute before it was struck, officials have said, as salvage teams worked to remove the most damaged carriages.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 210 were injured in Friday’s crash, which sent a packed eight-car train hurtling into the sides of a narrow tunnel near the eastern coastal city of Hualien.
Investigators said on Tuesday that the Taroko Express hit a railway maintenance truck on the line in a “head-on collision” moments before it entered the tunnel.
The vehicle slipped down a steep embankment and prosecutors are working to determine whether the driver failed to secure the parking brake or if the truck suffered a mechanical failure.