A man, surnamed Hung (洪), yesterday stabbed and injured two people on a Taichung MRT train before passengers stopped him, police said.
The knifeman put his bag down, pulled out a knife and attacked the man closest to him, a witness said.
A video uploaded to social media showed a 27-year-old man surnamed Hsu (許) charging Hung. Hsu and Hung wrestled and Hsu was wounded before Hung lost his grip on the knife, but as Hung bent down to take another knife out of his bag, Hsu tackled him to the ground.
Photo: CNA
Other passengers then rushed to stop him, with some hitting him on the head and one person prying open his hand to take the knife away, the witness said.
The Taichung City Government Fire Bureau said they received a report that people were wounded at Taichung City Hall Station at 11:17am and dispatched several ambulances.
Three people were injured, including the alleged attacker, the bureau said.
A 17-year-old surnamed Lu (呂) had lacerations on his chest, shoulder and arm, while Hsu had a 15cm gash stretching from his cheek to his jaw, the bureau said, adding that Hung sustained wounds on his fingers.
The suspect was taken to hospital and placed under police surveillance, the Taichung City Police Department’s Sixth Precinct said in a statement.
One kitchen knife and two fruit knives were recovered from the scene, the precinct said.
The Taichung City Government would pay the medical bills of the two wounded city residents, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said after visiting the hospital where they were being treated.
Hung lives in Kaohsiung where he studies nursing at a vocational college, a Sixth Precinct spokesperson said.
He traveled to Taichung and checked in at a motel in Situn District (西屯) on Monday, they said.
Police handed the case over to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, recommending that Hung be charged with attempted murder, the spokesperson said.
Hung’s father, who was on his way to Taichung after being contacted by authorities, said his son “has made a terrible mistake” and must take responsibility.
Hung was known to the Kaohsiung Department of Health as a person with a history of mental illness, but his motives for the alleged attack were not yet known, Taichung Police Commissioner Lee Wen-chang (李文章) said.
Hung’s school said that he took a leave of absence from a nursing internship in April reportedly to deal with stress.
Meanwhile, Taichung City Councilor Huang Hsin-hui (黃馨慧) asked why passengers did not receive a response after pressing the emergency button.
Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp (臺中捷運) chairman Yen Pang-chieh (顏邦傑) said the MRT control center registered two calls made at 11:14am and 11:15am and tried to contact the passengers via microphone, but no one responded.
This was likely due to the chaos in the car as the passengers were fending for their lives, he said, adding that staff could see what was happening because of security cameras in the carriage and contacted the police according to procedure.
People who are under attack should use objects at hand to protect their vital organs, including umbrellas and backpacks, or wrap a jacket or belt around their arms for defense, Taichung police said.
People should keep calm and back away sideways from the assailant to avoid slipping, they said.
People are urged to avoid fighting an armed assailant unless there is no other alternative, they added.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the