The Pachang Creek (
Media reports over the past three days have overwhelmingly focused on the government's responsibility in the matter, but the occupational injury victims' groups believe the accident is a reflection of long-existing shortcomings in workplace safety.
"This incident could have been avoided, just as any other occupational injury," said Ku Yu-ling (
PHOTO: HSIEH YIN-CHUNG, LIBERTY TIMES
"The rapidly rising torrent was said to have caused the accident, but it can't explain everything. I think it's natural for everyone to ask `Could this have been avoided?'" Ku said.
"There must be some who are responsible for ensuring safety at the workplace. The contractor, for sure, has direct responsibilities, but I suspect he has very little money to compensate families of the dead workers," Ku said.
"This is not an isolated case at all. Such things happen in Taiwan from time to time where workers die of occupational injuries. It's just that the other cases haven't grabbed media and public attention," Ku said.
PHOTO: LIBERTY TIMES
The four workers were employed by the Yung-chiu Construction Company (
The projects, begun in May this year and to be completed by August, are deemed as urgent for the safety of residents living downstream. Pachang Creek has its source on Alishan and flows through Chaiyi County and Tainan County.
To meet the deadline, the projects have been carried out during the rainy season, a risky move.
"They worked under pretty risky conditions. Ten years ago, we had a staff member who died in a similar accident as the four workers," admitted Hung Lao-sheng (
Hung said the only safety measure is to have somebody upstream watching water conditions. If the water rises rapidly, the lookout is supposed to notify workers downstream.
"It only takes minutes for water to come down the steep creek bed, so it's very important the lookout report danger with precise accuracy," Hung said.
In the accident on Saturday afternoon, eight workers working in the lower riverbed were told to leave ahead of the raging floods. Only four escaped and the other four, who were reportedly required by the contractor to wrap up tools, were unfortunately stuck in the middle of the water and ultimately lost their lives.
Following the accident, prosecutors in Chiayi County have been investigating the liability of related authorities and the contracting company. Prosecutors yesterday interrogated the head of the construction company and the leader of the group of workers for the project.
Ku said that while the contractor may be held liable for his failure to ensure workplace safety, she believes the water conservancy agency should also be held responsible.
"It is not liable under the existing law, because they are not the workers' legal employers. But, I think it has absolute responsibility to make sure the workers work under safe circumstances," Ku said.
"You can't just pass all responsibilities to the contractors, who are either notoriously ruthless, or can't afford to take preventive measures," Ku said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary