Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) A railway official has been sentenced to nearly nine years in jail for failing to properly supervise a construction project that went awry and led to Taiwan's deadliest train crash in 70 years, the Taiwan Hualien District Court ruled Friday.
CONTROVERSIAL: Sentences of up to nearly nine years are likely to be appealed, as homicide rather than negligence was more apparent, prosecutors and families saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Crane driver charged in TRA probe
NARROWING DOWN: After searches at 23 locations and questioning 109 people, prosecutors say that mishandling at a construction site might have caused the crash
By Jason Pan / Staff Reporter
Prosecutors yesterday indicted seven people in connection to the Taroko Express No. 408 derailment in Hualien County on April 2, in which 49 people died and more than 200 were injured.
Among the indicted were Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and into which the train crashed; his Vietnamese assistant, Hoa Van Hao; and workers at United Geotech Inc (聯合大地工程) and Tung Hsin Construction (東新營造), which undertook construction work near the site of the crash, Hualien prosecutor Chou Fang-yi (周芳怡) said.
Four additional suspects questioned over train crash
TEN IMPLICATED: An Agency Against Corruption probe focuses on Hualien government officials and contractors accused of bribery, the agency said
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Hualien prosecutors yesterday questioned four more suspects amid an investigation into a fatal train crash on Friday last week, saying that they are focusing on alleged corruption over public work projects.
Fifty people were killed and more than 200 injured when Taroko Express No. 408 crashed into a crane truck that had rolled onto the tracks, derailed and slammed into the walls of the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林).