Hundreds of foreign dignitaries, including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, have expressed condolences following a train derailment in Hualien County on Friday last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The crash was the nation’s worst rail tragedy in 40 years, killing 50 people and injuring 200 as of yesterday, after the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office revised the death toll down from 51 following DNA testing.
The ministry said that as of noon yesterday, it had received messages from 745 heads of state, dignitaries or friends of the nation, and from 92 countries or international organizations.
Photo: CNA
The ministry once again expressed its heartfelt gratitude for the warm messages.
Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Belizean Governor-General Colville Young, Honduran Presidential Designee Maria Antonia Rivera, Saint Kitts and Nevis Minister of Foreign Affairs and Aviation Mark Brantley, and Holy See Secretary for Relations with States Paul Gallagher, as well as the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed their condolences through letters or statements, or messages on Facebook or Twitter, the ministry said.
Pope Francis sent a letter to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as did the Dalai Lama, it added.
Condolence messages also came from Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks, former Slovakian minister of foreign affairs Ivan Korcok, Somaliland Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Liban Yusuf Osman, Global Affairs Canada, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez, European Parliament Vice President Nicola Beer, Slovakian Deputy Speaker of Parliament Gabor Grendel, the Solomon Islands, Estonia, Kosovo, Denmark, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, after setting up a special account for disaster relief on Saturday in response to an outpouring of public sentiment, yesterday announced that donations can be made online or via an ATM transfer.
From 12am today, people can donate NT$100 to NT$20,000 to the account from electronic kiosks at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart convenience stores, it added.
Donations from the public are to be accepted until April 30, it said.
Go player Chou Chun-hsun (周俊勳) is raising money online by playing with other players and teaching for NT$500 per game until 9pm today, with all of the proceeds to be donated to the ministry account.
Yesterday, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that he would donate one month’s salary — about NT$190,000 — to the ministry account.
Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) said that he would also donate one month’s salary.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) would donate one month of his legislator’s salary toward relief efforts.
The New Power Party said that its Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) would donate NT$100,000, while also urging other party members to assist those injured and those who lost their loved ones in the crash.
Additional reporting by Wang Jung-hsiang, Tsai Wen-chu, Chen Yu-hsun, Wu Liang-yi , Sherry Hsiao and CNA
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