Nora Sun (孫穗芬), a granddaughter of the late Republic of China (ROC) founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), was seriously injured in a car accident in Taipei yesterday, police said.
Nora Sun, 72, was still undergoing emergency treatment at the Shin Kong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital at press time.
According to Chen Ching-lin (陳慶霖), chief of surgery, Nora Sun suffered serious blows to her chest and abdomen, resulting in multiple traumas, lacerations of the liver and massive internal bleeding.
Nora Sun was in a coma when she first arrived at the hospital at around 8:15am and her heartbeat and blood pressure could not be measured, Chen said.
After a first emergency -operation to repair her abdominal aorta, she underwent a second procedure to treat her chest trauma and received an infusion of 12,000cc of blood, the doctor said.
Nora Sun was traveling on the city’s Jianguo Overpass in a Volvo sedan driven by a friend when the accident occurred at around 7:40am. Her car was hit by a March sedan coming from the opposite side of the highway, police said.
ONE FATALITY
While Nora Sun, her friend and a passenger in the March sedan were injured, the driver of the March sedan died.
Nora Sun lives overseas but returned to Taiwan this week to attend the Taipei International Flora Expo.
She was heading to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to take a flight to Hong Kong at the time of the accident, according to police.
Her son arrived in Taiwan late yesterday from Hong Kong to be by his mother’s bedside, Shin Kong Hospital said.
PRESIDENT VISITS
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he felt sorry about what had happened and visited Nora Sun in hospital last night. The Presidential Office would be in close contact with the hospital and will swing into action if necessary, he said.
Nora Sun was born in Shanghai, but spent her youth in Taiwan. She began a career in the US diplomatic service in the late 1980s.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday thanked Nora Sun for visiting the flora expo to show her support for the event and urged the public to join him in praying for her recovery.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP, KO SHU-LING AND MO YAN-CHIH
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.