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Taipei (AFP) - Surging waters triggered by torrential rain killed five people in Taiwan after they were swept away while hiking down a river canyon, officials said Monday.
Dramatic footage from local media showed a huge wave rushing down the Beishi River in New Taipei City where 24 people on a company trip were hiking Sunday despite official warnings of torrential rain.
Hiking along river canyons, known locally as river tracing, is increasingly popular in Taiwan, with people wading and climbing through the water.
Six females in the group were swept away by the wave but one 15-year-old girl managed to grab hold of driftwood and later scrambled to safety.
The body of a 13-year-old girl was found Monday while the bodies of her mother and two other adults were pulled from the river Sunday, said the New Taipei City fire department.
Footage on the Apple Daily website showed rescuers pulling one of the women from the water and desperately trying in vain to resuscitate her.
Rescuers found the body of a missing 44-year-old woman, also a coach of the activity, later Monday.
The teenage survivor, Ho Yu-chieh, climbed onto a rock to wait for the water to recede before walking to nearby houses to seek help around dawn, her mother Liao Li-hsiang told reporters.
"It was dark so she sat on the rock for the water to go down... she is a calm child. She waited till the water receded so she can safely get on shore... and walked on her own to seek help when dawn came."
The fire department intially identified the mother as Chen Li-hsiang but later corrected it.
Taiwan has been hit by heavy rain in the past week, triggering flooding that partially shut down Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei.
Seven summoned for questioning in tragic river trekking tour
2016/06/06 21:33:21
Taipei, June 6 (CNA) The Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Monday summoned seven people for questioning in connection with a river trekking tour that resulted in the death of five people a day earlier.
The seven included coahces and a tour leader from a company whose Chinese name is pronounced "Fen Niao Ke" (粉鳥客). It organizes mountain adventure and river trekking tours.
Following questioning, prosecutors listed them as potential defendants, meaning that they have launched an official investigation to see if they should be charged with negligence leading to deaths.
On Sunday when the 24-member group was out for river trekking, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) had issued a torrential rain warning on the mountainous areas in New Taipei City, and rain precipitations recorded were over 100 mm in just one hour.
But the three coaches disregarded the weather risks and led the group for river trekking in the Pinglin mountainous area.
They encountered heavy rain upon their return, and water levels on a river surged in just a few seconds. All 24 people were swept away by the flash flood, but 18 managed to swim to shore.
Among the six who were washed down river, only one person survived. The 15-year-old, Ho Yu-chieh (何妤婕), survived by clinging to a piece of a driftwood until it snagged near a big rock close to the riverbank.
She rested on the rock overnight until the water level dropped and she was able to wade ashore to seek help.
Rescuers searched from Sunday to Monday for the other missing people. The last body was found in the upper stream of the river near Pingdu Bridge, which is at the 44.5 kilometer marker of Beiyi Highway.
On Monday, Hon Hai Group confirmed that 15 participants of the river trekking tour were the staff of its subsidiary Taiwan Broadband Communications Co. (TBC) and their dependants. They took part in the tour on their own.
Ou Ta-wei(歐大維), 46, husband of Lin Shu-lin (林淑玲), 45, one of the five victims and a TBC staff, said he had only five seconds to decide whether to save his daughter or his wife, and he chose to grab his daughter who was nearest to him.
He couldn't hold back his tears when he thought of his wife perishing in a short time later.
Human error blamed for severe flooding at Taoyuan airport
2016/06/06 17:53:19
June 2, 2016 (CNA file photo)
Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Human factors were most responsible for the severe flooding seen at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last week, a senior official with the Cabinet-level Public Construction Commission (PCC) said Monday.
The flooding resulted from rocks and stones blocking a section of the airport's drainage system, trapping rainwater until it surged to the surface, said PCC deputy chief Yan Jeou-rong (顏久榮) at a press conference held by the Cabinet.
After reaching ground level, muddy water flowed down to lower level areas in Terminal 2 of the airport via moving walkways and other openings, Yan said.
He also noted that key flood gates were not closed at the time when the water starting flowing in, he added.
The evidence suggests that "the disaster would not have happened if (the sewage system) had been clear," Yan said, concluding that human negligence was mostly to blame for the flooding.
A flash flood at the country's main air hub on June 2 forced the closure of the main road to the airport and led to a power outage at its Terminal 2, where the flooding was concentrated. More than 200 flights were delayed, affecting some 30,000 passengers.
When asked at the press conference who was responsible for the blocked drainage system, PCC chief Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) said the airport is managed by Taoyuan International Airport Corp., but construction companies were also active there.
He will ask the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to find out if those construction units and their affiliates were responsible for the incident, Wu said.
Asked if the airport's procedures failed, resulting in the flood gates not being closed in time, Deputy Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said it was a problem and resulted in floodwaters submerging the food court on the B2 level of Terminal 2.
Wang said he suspected the problem was caused by the airport company's poor facility management and lack of experience in handling emergency situations caused by heavy rainfall.
He noted that the ministry has demanded that the airport company check all flood gates at electricity substations and parking lots and increase the number of flood gates as necessary.
On the question of possible disciplinary action against those held liable, Wang only replied that anyone found responsible for the flooding would be disciplined.
Taoyuan airport head's resignation accepted: minister
2016/06/06 14:19:19
From left: Taoyuan International Airport Corp. Chairman Samuel Lin, Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan and the airport company's chief executive officer, Fei Hourng-jiun.
Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦) has approved the resignation of Taoyuan International Airport Corp. Chairman Samuel Lin (林鵬良) after flooding disrupted air traffic at the country's main international gateway on June 2.
At a hearing of the Legislature's Transportation Committee, Ho Chen said he had also accepted a proposal from the airport company's chief executive officer, Fei Hourng-jiun (費鴻鈞), that Fei be disciplined as well.
Before reporting on the incident at the hearing, Ho Chen bowed and apologized for the inconvenience caused by the disruption.
A flash flood at the country's main air hub on June 2 forced the closure of the main road to the airport and led to a power outage at its Terminal 2, where the flooding was concentrated. More than 200 flights were delayed, affecting some 30,000 passengers.
Ho Chen said he visited the airport on the evening of June 2 with deputy transportation ministers Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) and Wu Men-feng (吳盟分) to check on the situation, and he directed the airport to first deal with passenger and compensation issues.
The ministry will work with the Cabinet's Public Construction Commission to identify the causes of the flooding and help the airport strengthen its disaster prevention and control measures to avoid a repetition of similar incidents, he pledged.
According to Fei, the flooding caused an estimated NT$50 million (US$1.55 million) in losses to the airport, which will be fully paid for by the airport's insurance company.
Calling the flooding "a disgrace at the Gate of the Nation," Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) said 65 serious problems at the airport have been reported since 2008, including six cases of flooding or leaks.
Ho Chen admitted that the airport's management has been lax and attributed it to the inability of the airport's human resources system to adapt to the airport's privatization process that began in 2010.
