The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday called for an investigation into the “systemic causes” of a train derailment on Friday last week.
The deadliest accident involving a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) train in 40 years happened after Taroko Express No. 408, heading from New Taipei City to Taitung, hit a crane truck that had slid down a hill and onto the rails shortly before the train arrived at Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林).
Yesterday, the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office revised the death toll from 51 people to 50, following DNA testing.
Following confirmation by the Executive Yuan that Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) had offered a verbal resignation, the KMT said in a statement yesterday that taking political responsibility is the “bare minimum” that the Democratic Progressive Party should do as the ruling party.
A thorough investigation into the “systemic causes” of the incident and “supervisory responsibility” for it is essential, it said.
Such an investigation should answer questions such as why the TRA has “lacked professional leadership” since the retirement of the agency’s director-general in January, when Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) became acting director-general, the KMT added.
It should also answer why a contractor with a poor record was still awarded contracts, it said.
Prosecutors should conduct a comprehensive investigation into contractors possibly connected to the incident, it said.
However, the TRA cannot shirk its responsibility as the supervisory agency, the KMT said.
A TRA staff member who reportedly proposed on an internal chat group that the agency avoid responsibility for the incident should be investigated, the KMT said.
Along with continuing to pray, people must be held accountable to prevent such accidents, it added.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS