A man and a woman were yesterday found dead inside a van after heavy downpours in Chiayi County on Sunday.
Rescuers found the bodies after responding to a call reporting that two people were believed to be inside a vehicle near a bridge close to Provincial Highway No. 82’s Jhonghe Interchange in Chiayi, the county’s fire bureau said, adding that the flooding had mainly subsided at that point.
The two might have become trapped when their van was submerged following heavy rain in the area, which began on Sunday afternoon and continued until late on Sunday night, police said.
Photo: Wang Shan-yan, Taipei Times
The case has been turned over to prosecutors and drowning was determined to be the cause of death, they said.
As of 10pm on Sunday, 32 people had been rescued from flooded vehicles near the bridge, police added.
Yesterday morning, the Chiayi City Government announced the closure of state-run high schools in the city, and National Chiayi University said its campuses in the city and county would be closed.
On Sunday night, the county government had announced that schools and offices would be closed yesterday, but the Chiayi City Government had said that schools and offices were expected to be open.
Meanwhile, the Alishan Forest Railway service has been suspended until further notice.
As of Sunday night, Chiayi city and county had recorded more than 280mm of rain, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The heavy downpours in the area, which started at 2pm on Sunday, resulted in flooding and mudslides that disrupted traffic, and damaged and buried homes.
Jhuci Township (竹崎) Mayor Tseng Liang-tseh (曾亮哲) on Sunday night said that a mudslide had buried or destroyed more than 10 houses, including a household that was set to hold a funeral for a family member yesterday.
The body of the deceased, which was swept away by a one-story-high mudslide along with the freezer it was being preserved in the living room, was found at about noon yesterday, the Jhuci police precinct said in a statement.
The rest of the family were in a different part of the house, and were all safe, the precinct said.
Police had been helping the family search for the body since Sunday night after receiving a call at about 9pm, it said, adding that the military and township office had also sent excavators and equipment to the site yesterday morning to help the family find the body as soon as possible.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS