Taroko Express Crash: Minister offers verbal resignation
KEEPING FOCUSED: Premier Su Tseng-chang was said to have commended Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung, but said the tragedy takes priority
Staff writer, with CNA
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has submitted a verbal resignation in the wake of the Taroko Express No. 408 train crash two days ago, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said yesterday.
In a call, Lin told Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) that he wished to step down, to take responsibility for the deadliest accident involving a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) train in 40 years.
As of press time last night, the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office had revised the death toll from 51, which had been reported on the previous day, to 50, after DNA testing showed that what had been considered two sets of remains belonged to the same pe
SOLE SURVIVOR: An Amis family of four purchased standing tickets on the train after missing an earlier one to Hualien. Three died in Friday’s crashBy Lin Hsin-han, Wang Chun-chi and Lin Ching-lun / Staff reporters, with CNA
A somber mood yesterday pervaded the crash site of Taroko Express No. 408, as families of those killed in the incident performed a “soul summoning” (招魂儀式), a traditional Taiwanese folk ritual to call for the deceased soul to return home.
The crash occurred at 9:28am on Friday when the train, which had departed from New Taipei City’s Shulin Railway Station for Taitung, slammed into a crane truck at the entrance of the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林).
As of 7pm yesterday, 51 fatalities had been reported, the Taiwan Railways Administration said.
Many grieving family members wept aloud and some needed
Hotels report a surge in room, dining cancelations
By Hsiao Yu-hsin, Tsai Tsung-hsien and Wang Shan-yan / Staff reporters
Except for Taitung, hoteliers across the nation have reported an increase in cancelations of room and dining reservations during the first weekend of the winter break, as the COVID-19 outbreak at the Taoyuan General Hospital spreads.
A hotel manager in Kenting, Pingtung County, surnamed Chu (朱), on Sunday said that his hotel had a booking rate of more than 90 percent prior to the Taoyuan outbreak, but many called the hotel over the weekend to cancel or postpone their reservations.
Hotels near the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi County also saw their booking rate fall by 20 percent during the same period.
Hualien Archeological Museum ‘an inspiration’
By Wang Chun-chi
and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Hualien Archeological Museum opened to the public on Sunday, giving a permanent home to 800,000 artifacts, including a 1,240kg stone trough considered the pride of the museum and a jade burial pendant that inspired its logo design.
To house the museum, the Hualien County Government received a NT$72 million (US$2.54 million) grant from the Ministry of Culture to renovate Shoufeng Township’s (壽豐鄉) Fengtien Market (豐田市場), which was originally built in 1984.
At the opening ceremony, Bureau of Cultural Heritage Deputy Director Wu Hua-tsung (吳華宗) praised the museum as an inspiration to the rest of the nation for providing local historical and cultural education.