Chiayi prosecutors yesterday launched a criminal investigation into the Pachang Creek incident to decide whether officials were guilty of negligence or manslaughter.
If found guilty of negligence, public officials could face anywhere between three and 10 years imprisonment, according to the Criminal Code.
Meanwhile, a demerit was handed down to 13 ministers including Director of the National Fire Administration Chen Horng-i (陳弘毅), Director-General of National Police Administration Ting Yuan-chin (丁原進) and the Ministry of National Defense's war command deputy, Major General Chung Shen-ning (鍾申寧).
"The focus of our investigation will be why was there a delay? Was there enough time to carry out a rescue during the delay? Also, to determine if the delay constitutes a criminal offense, if it is found officials failed to launch a rescue attempt?" said Tseng Ming-fung (
The State Public Prosecutor General Lu Jen-fa (
Lu said that governmental officials could be found guilty of an offense under a law related to the "public official's negligence of duties, thereby causing catastrophes."
But Lu stressed he would not interfere in the investigation.
Tseng said another possible charge was manslaughter by neglect of official duties, which carries imprisonment of less than five years.
Led by Tseng, three Chiayi prosecutors yesterday visited Chiayi's air force base, the base of the airborne police in Taichung and the Chiayi Fire Department. They also spoke with eyewitnesses.
Tseng said inconsistencies between the reports of the different units needed to be checked.
An airborne police rescue helicopter was dispatched from Taichung, but investigators discovered it turned back as the pilot was told the workers had already been swept away by the torrent.
The air force says that according to regulations it was not their responsibility to carry out rescue efforts below 2,500m above sea level.
Asked if this regulation exempted the air force from criminal charges for not dispatching a helicopter, Tseng said the matter still needed to be examined.
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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