A train crash in Taiwan killed at least 48 people and injured dozens Friday, authorities said, in the deadliest railway accident in decades on the island. A construction truck that was improperly parked on a slope rolled down and collided with a passenger train on Friday morning, leaving it derailed in a tunnel on Taiwan’s east coast, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA).
Photos from the scene showed the train tilted inside the tunnel, with pieces of crushed metal surrounding it. Survivors climbed out of the train’s windows to escape.
The tragedy was heightened as Friday was the first day of the Tomb Sweeping Festival, an annual commemoration in Taiwan and some other parts of Asia of family members who have died. Many of Taiwan’s 24 million people were set to travel domestically over the long weekend.
The train had 374 seats and was near capacity, Wu Ching-tien, a Hualien railway official, said in a video interview with Taiwan’s United Daily News.
The accident has raised concerns about Taiwan’s transportation safety, following another deadly train crash three years earlier. In 2018, 18 people were killed and 215 injured when a train derailed in northeastern Taiwan.
On Friday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash and a rapid effort to save the trapped and injured. The last two people trapped were rescued on Friday afternoon.
“All relevant units are working all-out in the rescue mission,” she said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang expressed his condolences to the passengers and their families, according to the official Radio Taiwan International.
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