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Taipei, July 19 (CNA) All 26 people on a tour bus died when their vehicle caught fire after crashing into a expressway guardrail near Taoyuan International Airport Tuesday, Taiwan's Tourism Bureau said. Among the victims were 23 tourists and a tour guide from China.
It is one of the worst accidents involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan.
The bus driver and a guide from Taiwan also died in the accident, which occurred at around 1 p.m..
The bus was taking the group of tourists to the airport for an afternoon flight home at the end of their 8-day trip to Taiwan.
Fire claims lives of all 26 people on Chinese tour group bus
2016/07/19 16:13:01
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) All 26 people on a bus taking a Chinese tour group to Taiwan's main international airport died Tuesday when a fire broke out in the vehicle on the No. 2 National Freeway, authorities said.
The Tourism Bureau said the tour group on the bus was from Liaoning province in China and consisted of 23 tourists, including three children, and a Chinese guide.
It arrived in Taiwan on July 12 for an eight-day tour and was heading to the airport on its final day in Taiwan to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight back to Dalian.
Two Taiwanese on board the ill-fated bus -- the bus driver and a tour guide -- also lost their lives in the tragedy.
The worst single accident involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan occurred at about 1 p.m. at the 2.9-kilometer mark of the freeway on its westbound lane headed toward Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Freeway surveillance cameras showed that the bus was belching smoke as it rode on the inside lane of the roadway.
Other images showed the bus after it rammed into a guardrail on the outer edge of the freeway with flames erupting out of its windows.
It was unclear at what point the fire broke out and what caused it or why the driver did not pull the bus over while it was belching smoke.
Firefighters who arrived on the scene needed 30 minutes to put out the blaze, and found most of the victims piled up near the emergency exit door located behind the fifth row in the bus.
The six-year-old tour bus involved in the accident had a record of five traffic violations during its time in service.
The driver, Su Ming-cheng (蘇明成), only obtained his license to drive big passenger buses last October and had two traffic violations to his name.
China to send officials to Taiwan to tackle aftermath of bus accident
2016/07/19 18:18:02
Investigators are collecting evidence from a bus, after a fire broke out in the vehicle and killed all 26 people on board in early Tuesday afternoon.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) China said Tuesday that it will send a team to deal with the aftermath of a bus fire that killed 26 people, including 23 Chinese tourists and their Chinese guide, earlier in the day.
"We're highly concerned about the lives and safety of our countrymen from the mainland," said Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光), spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council.
"Related authorities will send a team to Taiwan to help the families of the victims deal with the aftermath of the incident," he said.
He said his office activated an emergency mechanism upon being informed about the accident.
The Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation, the semi-official organization responsible for cross-Taiwan Strait negotiations, said it had reported the case to its Chinese counterpart -- the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
The ARATS has demanded that the Taiwanese authorities get to the bottom of the incident and deal with the issue properly, as well as take measures to strengthen travel safety, according to Ma.
Ma's remarks came after all 26 people on a bus taking a Chinese tour group to the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport died earlier in the day when a fire broke out in the vehicle on the No. 2 National Freeway.
In Taipei, the Tourism Bureau said the tour group was from China's Liaoning Province and consisted of 23 tourists and a Chinese guide.
The worst single accident involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan occurred at about 1 p.m. at the 2.8-kilometer mark of the freeway on its westbound lane headed toward Taiwan's main gateway.
The group had arrived in Taiwan July 12 for an eight-day tour and was heading to the airport on its final day in Taiwan to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight back to Dalian, the bureau said.
Taiwan's National Immigration Agency said it will facilitate the entry procedure for the families of the Chinese victims by issuing them with travel permits upon their arrival in Taiwan.
Two Taiwanese aboard the ill-fated bus -- the bus driver and a tour guide -- also lost their lives in the tragedy.
Freeway surveillance cameras show that the bus was belching smoke and that fire began erupting from the front part of the vehicle before it rammed a guardrail on the outer edge of the freeway.
It was unclear at what point the fire broke out, what caused it, or why the driver did not pull the bus over while it was belching smoke.
An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the accident.
The 6-year-old bus had a record of five traffic violations during its time in service.
The driver, Su Ming-cheng (蘇明成), only obtained his license to drive big passenger buses last October and already had two traffic violations to his name.
(By Yin Chun-chieh, Chen Chia-lun, Wu Tze-hao, Wang Chao-yu, Chu
Che-wei and Elaine Hou)
Prosecutors find 'abnormal' rear exit in ill-fated bus
2016/07/19 23:09:04
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Prosecutors and fire experts found late Tuesday that an "abnormal" rear exit of the burning bus may have caused the deaths of all 26 people on board earlier that day.
Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office and forensic experts said they had to use tools to rip open the left rear door of the tour bus that carried 24 Chinese passengers, in addition to the bus driver and a Taiwanese tour guide. All perished in the fire near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The investigators noted that the exit door could have been deformed by the fire, so they were not yet ready to come to a conclusion as to why the passengers were not able to escape.
As many as nine people were piled up close to the rear exit door, so they would not rule out the possibility that the bus riders were so panicked they were unable to open the emergency exit, costing them their lives.
Meanwhile, they did not speculate on the cause of the fire on the bus, saying they have to inspect the remaining structure of the bus before developing a theory on the possible source of ignition and fire.
The prosecutors and experts were reticent about some media reports that a failed braking system and switchboard fire at the front of the bus could have caused the tragedy.
Bus driver asks why emergency exits of stricken bus were not used
2016/07/19 21:08:03
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) After 26 people on a bus taking a Chinese tour group to Taiwan's main international airport died Tuesday when a fire broke out in the vehicle on the No. 2 National Freeway, a driver of the same type of bus asked why the emergency exits were not opened.
The driver, identified only by his surname Su, said that in line with standard operating procedure, the driver of the bus should have broadcast a safety video after the passengers boarded the bus to explain how to open the emergency exits.
He speculated that the emergency exit door was stuck or that the fire in the front part of the vehicle was so fierce that passengers could not get near the rear emergency exit, which was also stuck after the bus hit a freeway guardrail, leading to the worst single accident involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan.
The tour group was from Liaoning Province in China and comprised 23 tourists, including three children, and a Chinese guide.
It arrived in Taiwan July 12 for an eight-day tour and was heading to the airport on its final day in Taiwan to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight back to Dalian.
Two Taiwanese on the ill-fated bus -- the driver and a tour guide -- also lost their lives in the tragedy.
Surveillance cameras show that at the 4.2-kilometer mark of the freeway on the westbound lane heading toward Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the vehicle started to belch smoke, hit an inside lane guardrail at the 3-km mark, then bounced into an outer lane guardrail at the 2.9-km mark, where it finally came to a halt at around 1 p.m.
A freeway policeman on the scene tried to break the rear window of the bus with a fire extinguisher, helped by a truck driver who stopped to help, but they failed to break the window due to the rapid spread of fire.
The Directorate General of Highways has told the bus company to suspend the operations of the same type of bus pending further inspections.
Police and firefighters at the scene said that several of the victims were piled up near the emergency exits and that the back door of the bus was seriously deformed by the fire, making the job of retrieving the bodies very difficult.
The luggage of the tourists was collected by police, while firefighters and police made an initial inspection. Prosecutors were scheduled to inspect the fire-damaged vehicle the following day to try to determinate the cause of the accident.
The Tourism Bureau said that it has arranged for the family members of the tourists to come to Taiwan to take care of the aftermath, and they could arrive Wednesday at the earliest.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Prosecutors filed a motion with the Taipei District Court on Tuesday to detain the suspect in a train explosion in Taipei early this month.
The action followed hours of questioning of Lin Ying-chang (林英昌), who allegedly detonated an explosive device on a commuter train when it was pulling into Songshan Railway Station on July 7.
Prosecutors accused Lin of attempted murder, endangering public safety and illegal possession of ammunition and argued to the court that he posed a flight risk.
The 55-year-old man was one of the 25 people injured in the blast and remains hospitalized.
He was identified by police as the main suspect after GPS information led police to his van, and surveillance cameras at various locations Lin visited showed him carrying a canvas bag identical to the one police found in the train's bathroom after the explosion occurred.
When police searched Lin's van, which was in Nantou County, they discovered a will written by the suspect that said he had been bothered by an illness and wanted to die.
After comparing Lin's DNA with the DNA evidence discovered in the pipe bomb used as the explosive device, the Criminal Investigation Bureau concluded that it was Lin who brought the pipe bomb on board the train.
Based on the will found in Lin's van, police suspected Lin had expected to be killed by the explosion. He has been treated for tonsil cancer and mental illness and faced financial difficulties in recent years, according to police.
When questioned by police on July 15, however, Lin said he simply wanted to draw attention from the public.
Lin also said he set off the explosive device by himself and that he had no accomplices.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Tuesday approved prosecutors' request to detain the suspect in a train explosion in Taipei early this month.
Lin Ying-chang (林英昌) allegedly detonated an explosive device on a commuter train when it was pulling into Songshan Railway Station on July 7.
Prosecutors accused Lin of attempted murder, endangering public safety and illegal possession of ammunition and argued to the court that he posed a flight risk.
The 55-year-old man was one of the 25 people injured in the blast and remains hospitalized.
President expresses concern over deadly Chinese tourist bus fire
2016/07/19 16:07:01
Investigators are collecting evidence from the bus, which caught fire after crashing into a expressway guardrail near Taoyuan International Airport.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed concern over a tour bus fire in which 24 Chinese tourists were killed Tuesday, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said shortly after the incident. A tour guide and the bus driver, both of whom were from Taiwan, also perished.
It is one of the worst accidents involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan since Beijing began to allow Chinese citizens to visit the island in 2008.
The tour bus was engulfed in flames after it rammed a guardrail on the side of the No. 2 National Freeway in northern Taiwan.
It occurred at about 1 p.m. at the 2.8 kilometer mark of the freeway on the westbound lane headed toward Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Driven by a Taiwanese driver, the bus was carrying the Chinese tourist group to the airport at the conclusion of an eight-day trip to Taiwan.
Both the Executive Yuan and the Taoyuan city government have formed an emergency center to deal with the aftermath of the incident, Huang added.
According to the Tourism Bureau, the Chinese tourists from the Chinese province of Liaoning were scheduled to take a China-bound flight at 4:30 p.m.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Images of the bus at the site of the accident show the vehicle as a burnt-out shell blackened on the inside from front to back.
A video taken from a car passing by the bus showed flames coming out of the windows of the vehicle with about one-third of its body extending out of the roadway.
(By Lu Hsin-hui, Yuris Ku, Wang Shu-feng and Elaine Hou)
81 Chinese have died since 2008 in accidents while touring Taiwan
2016/07/19 17:27:02
A fire broke out in the bus carrying Chinese tourists, killing all 26 people on board Tuesday.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Eighty-one Chinese people have died and more than 100 others have been injured in accidents since Taiwan opened its doors to Chinese tourists in 2008.
The following are major accidents involving Chinese tourists:
April 24, 2009: A tour bus is hit by a crane arm at a construction site near the Taipei 101 skyscraper, resulting in three deaths and two injuries.
Oct. 21, 2010: A tour bus is hit by falling rocks in the wake of a typhoon on the Suhua Highway, causing 20 deaths and two injuries.
April 27, 2011: A train on the Alishan Forest Railway derails and overturns, causing six deaths and 45 injuries.
June 27, 2012: Chinese tourists suffer bruises on a bus due to bad road conditions on the Alishan Highway.
July 7, 2012: A tour bus overturns at the Hsiangshan Interchange in Hsinchu County.
Aug. 24, 2012: A bus hits a tunnel opening in Chiayi.
April 22, 2013: A tour bus hits a truck on Alishan.
Aug. 23, 2013: A bus hits a private house in Taitung.
Dec. 18, 2013: A bus hits a trailer on Provincial Highway No. 9.
Feb. 4, 2015: Two Chinese tour groups aboard a TransAsia Airways plane bound for Kinmen plunge into the Keelung River, causing 28 deaths and three injuries.
July 19, 2016: A 24-member Chinese tour group from Liaoning Province perish after the bus carrying them was engulfed in fire on the No. 2 Freeway.
Premier expresses sadness over deaths in tour bus fire
2016/07/19 18:45:02
Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) speaks about the Chinese tour bus fire at a news conference Tuesday.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Premier Lin Chuan (林全) expressed sadness over the loss of 26 lives in Tuesday's tour bus fire and directed the Cabinet to set up a Central Disaster Emergency Operations Center to handle the aftermath of the accident, an official said.
Twenty-four of the victims were mainland Chinese nationals, making the accident the worst involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan since Beijing began to allow its citizens to visit Taiwan in 2008.
According to Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), the Tourism Bureau and Mainland Affairs Council, as well as the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), have informed the Chinese authorities of the situation, and the SEF has also sent officials to the scene of the accident to provide assistance.
The government's top priority at present is to help the victims' families travel to Taiwan, he said.
Meanwhile that day, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation said it had set up a center in Taoyuan and is standing ready to provide support, including prayer for the victims and accompanying the bereaved families.
Lawmakers express condolences to families of bus fire victims
2016/07/19 19:48:02
Police are moving the bodies of the people who died in Tuesday's bus fire from the vehicle.
Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Lawmakers across party lines have expressed sadness and condolences to the families of the victims of a bus fire early Tuesday afternoon, including 23 Chinese tourists and a Chinese tour guide.
Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), a Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus whip, expressed sympathy over the incident and said that the top priority at present is to assist the victims' families to come to Taiwan to deal with the aftermath.
DPP lawmaker Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤), a chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee, also urged law enforcement authorities to get to the bottom of the accident and find out who should be held accountable.
Other lawmakers who expressed shock over the incident included Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華), a deputy Kuomintang caucus whip, who expressed hope that the legislative causes of all parties will discuss how to help deal with the issue during a meeting slated for the following day.
New Power Party legislative caucus Convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the incident is an issue of public security. Police must conduct a thorough investigation into the case and see if there are any problems with other vehicles of the same model as the ill-fated bus, he added.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) said relevant government officials should be active in providing assistance to the families of the victims.
Earlier in the day, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Lin Chuan (林全) also expressed concern over the accident.
The Executive Yuan and the Taoyuan City government have formed an emergency task force to deal with the aftermath of the incident, while the National Immigration Agency said it will facilitate the entry procedure for the families of the Chinese victims by issuing them with travel permits upon their arrival in Taiwan.
All 26 people on the bus taking a Chinese tour group to the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport died earlier in the day when a fire broke out in the vehicle on the No. 2 National Freeway. Two Taiwanese aboard the bus -- the bus driver and a tour guide -- also lost their lives in the tragedy.
According to the Tourism Bureau, the tour group was from China's Liaoning Province and was concluding an eight-day trip to Taiwan.
The worst single accident involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan occurred at about 1 p.m. Tuesday at the 2.8-kilometer mark of the freeway on its westbound lane headed toward Taiwan's main gateway.
Freeway surveillance cameras show that the bus was belching smoke and that fire began erupting from the front part of the vehicle before it rammed a guardrail on the outer edge of the freeway.
It was unclear at what point the fire broke out, what caused it, or why the driver did not pull the bus over while it was belching smoke.
An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the accident.
(By Wang Cheng-chung, Justin Su, Wen Kuei-hsiang, Liu Kuan-ting and
Elaine Hou)
Taiwan bus inferno kills 26, mainly China tourists
AFP on July 20, 2016, 4:33 am
Taipei (AFP) - A fire ripped through a bus carrying tourists from China in Taiwan Tuesday, killing all 26 on board in the worst road accident to hit mainland visitors since a holiday boom to the island.
The disaster, which occurred as the tourists were heading to the airport for their flight home, was the latest in a series that have called into question Taiwan's safety record.
Media footage showed the bus, with flames shooting from the front, rammed into an expressway barrier near Taipei.
The images showed thick plumes of smoke and burned-out wreckage at the roadside.
A police spokesman said the bus had caught fire before it crashed into the barrier but gave no reason.
"All the people on the bus died," Lin Kuan-cheng, spokesman for the National Fire Agency, told AFP.
"At this stage it is still not clear why no passengers escaped from the bus."
The Liberty Times newspaper quoted an unnamed eyewitness as saying passengers were pounding on the bus windows for help as the driver swerved sharply before the crash.
One image in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper showed two men trying to smash the windows of the burning bus with fire extinguishers as the doors of the vehicle remained shut.
A firefighter at the scene said there were no survivors still calling for help when they arrived.
The bodies were being retrieved from the vehicle Tuesday evening after police and prosecutors examined the site, said an AFP photographer at the scene.
The tour group of 24 people -- three children, 15 women and six men -- was from China's northeastern city of Dalian, Taiwan's interior ministry said.
A Taiwanese driver and Taiwanese tour guide were also killed, the National Fire Agency confirmed.
The group were on their way to Taipei's main Taoyuan airport for a 4:30 pm flight back to Dalian after an eight-day tour of the island. The accident happened shortly before 1:00 pm.
- String of accidents -
Chinese tour groups have increasingly visited Taiwan in recent years after a boom in mainland tourism.
That was fostered by a rapprochement between the rivals under former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who came to power in 2008 and left office in May.
However, there are fears the industry may be hit after Beijing-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen won the presidency in January, amid reports that tourist numbers have dropped.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office said it had launched "emergency response measures" after the accident, and would send a team to the island to help handle the aftermath.
"We are highly concerned about the safety of our mainland compatriots," said spokesman Ma Xiaoguang, quoted by state news agency Xinhua.
Several recent fatal accidents in Taiwan have led to safety probes.
In February 2015 a TransAsia plane crashed into a river in Taipei, killing 43 on board -- including 28 mainland Chinese tourists. A recent report by investigators confirmed the pilot had shut down the wrong engine after the other one failed. The airline was instructed to overhaul safety procedures and training.
In June 2015 coloured corn starch sprayed over crowds at a water park party near Taipei ignited due to the heat of stage lights, killing 15 and injuring more than 500 -- many of them young people who sustained horrific burns. The organiser of the event was jailed for negligence.
The collapse of a residential block during an earthquake in the southern city of Tainan in February this year, which left 115 dead, led to an investigation which showed builders had cut corners.
The previous worst road accident to kill Chinese tourists was in 2010 when a tour bus was hit by a landslide following a typhoon on a coastal road in the east of the island, leaving 20 dead.
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan authorities ordered some tour buses off the road on Wednesday after one caught fire and killed 26 on board as questions swirl over why emergency doors and windows did not open.
Local media reported that bodies were found stacked at the escape routes at the back of the bus full of Chinese tourists, which caught fire then crashed through an expressway barrier Tuesday on its way to Taipei's main airport in Taoyuan.
Investigators believe mechanical or electrical failure near the driver's seat may have led to the disaster, according to reports.
The China Times said preliminary investigations had also found emergency door handles may have been distorted by heat from the inferno inside the bus.
Pictures from the scene showed two men outside the bus trying to smash windows open with fire extinguishers.
One eyewitness said trapped passengers inside the bus had been pounding on the windows as it careered off the road.
Four buses belonging to the Mei Kui Shih Transportation Company -- which operated the tour bus -- were ordered off the road, Taiwan's highways department said.
Another 16 buses of the same model, used by other tour companies, will have a compulsory inspection within the next week, the department said.
Prosecutors in Taoyuan district questioned the bus operator and travel agency Tuesday night and were continuing to investigate Wednesday.
They told AFP they were unable as yet to speculate on the causes of the accident.
"(We) will conduct a second examination of the scene and vehicle to identify the cause," they said in a statement.
A post-mortem will be carried out on the body of the driver to determine the state of his health, the statement added.
Chinese officials are due to land Wednesday afternoon and arrangements are being made for family members to come to Taiwan, according to the island's Mainland Affairs Council.
Relatives will undergo DNA tests to help identify the bodies, prosecutors said.
The tour group of 24 visitors from China's northeastern city of Dalian were heading to the airport for their flight home after an eight-day trip around the island when the bus caught fire, swerving sharply before ramming into the expressway barrier.
All died, including three children, along with the driver and tour guide who were both Taiwanese.
