Survivors and friends and family members of people who died in April 2’s train crash yesterday criticized the indictment of seven people over their alleged involvement in the incident as too lenient.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday charged seven people over the crash, in which 49 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of the crane truck that slid down a slope onto the track, causing the crash, was charged with negligence resulting in death.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Railways Administration
Lee Chin-fu (李進福), a construction superintendent at United Geotech Inc (聯合大地工程) — a consultancy hired to oversee the progress of a slope stabilization project above the tracks where the crash took place — and Chang Chi Fu-tsai (張齊富財), a labor safety and health inspector at United Geotech, were charged with forgery and negligence resulting in death.
A passenger surnamed Lin (林) who was injured in the crash yesterday said that he was disappointed.
“The prosecution did not go far enough. The train crash killed so many people, and could have been avoided. It is not only Lee, but all the contractors and supervising companies and their officials who did not adhere to safety regulations at the work site. How can they only be charged with negligence resulting in death?” Lin asked.
A woman who lost a family member in the crash said she disagreed with the charges.
“It was not negligence resulting in death. It happened deliberately, but the law does not take the victim’s perspective into account,” she said. “If those people at the work site had immediately called the railway officials and warned them, then this catastrophe ... would never have happened.”
“Our nation’s laws are unable to make the perpetrator pay. The most he was charged with was negligence resulting in death, so there is an obvious need to address this and amend the law to make the punishment more severe,” said a friend of assistant train driver Chiang Pei-feng (江沛峰), who died in the crash.
Taichung Prosecutor Lin Chung-yi (林忠義) said the maximum sentence for someone found guilty of negligence resulting in death is five years in prison, which is insufficient.
“When it was originally created, the negligence resulting in death provision did not take into account serious cases of major public concern, resulting in punishments being handed out now that are disproportionate to the severity of the case and the number of victims,” Lin said.
“The justice system should create a committee to amend such provisions, to consider different categories depending on the severity of the offenses,” he said.
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