The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it has concluded its investigation into a tour bus inferno that killed two Taiwanese and all 24 Chinese tourists on board in July, listing the bus driver as a defendant on homicide charges, but because he died in the incident, the case was closed without prosecution.
The tour bus was heading for Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on July 19 following an eight-day tour of Taiwan arranged by Kaohsiung-based Chu Long Travel Service Co (鉅龍旅行社) when it caught fire on National Freeway No. 2, killing the tourists, along with Taiwanese driver Su Ming-cheng (蘇明成) and Taiwanese tour guide Cheng Kun-wen (鄭焜文).
Prior to the release of the report, investigators said that it was highly likely that the ignition point was near the driver’s seat, and as forensic investigators did not find any evidence of a short circuit, human factors were considered.
Photo: CNA, provided by a member of the public
The office released its findings at a news conference, saying that an autopsy of Su’s body showed high alcohol content in his blood, urine and stomach, indicating that he was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
Investigators also found five plastic containers on the bus that tests showed contained gasoline, while Su had complained to a friend about being sentenced to five years in prison for rape, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors said Su set himself on fire when the bus was 3km from the airport, and the fire spread rapidly as the bus ran out of control into a freeway fence, giving the others onboard no way to escape.
Based on the evidence, Su had premeditated suicide, and by setting the fire cost 25 other people their lives, prompting the driver to be listed as a defendant on homicide charges, prosecutors said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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