More than 200 belongings of passengers who were killed in the derailments of Puyuma Express 6432 in Yilan in 2018 and Taroko Express 408 in Hualien in 2021 are now available for family members to retrieve following conclusions of investigations into the incidents, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said in a statement yesterday.
The agency’s handling of remains and belongings came under scrutiny, after family members of victims who had died in the Taroko Express derailment found skull fragments when returning to the site of the accident.
The Executive Yuan on Sept. 6 convened a meeting to review results of the investigations into the two accidents and procedures that were followed to preserve train carriages.
Photo courtesy of the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office via CNA
Following the Cabinet-level meeting, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board and prosecutors were instructed by the Executive Yuan to work together and list items that are to be returned to the TRA along with the train carriages, the railway agency said.
Once the train carriages were returned, the TRA is responsible for inviting family members, the board, third-party experts, prosecutors and police to oversee the cleaning process, the agency said, adding that the carriages should be preserved for future use in railway safety education.
“We have found 35 remaining items in the Puyuma Express carriages, and 170 in the Taroko Express carriages. These items have been announced to the public and are waiting to be reclaimed by family members,” the agency said.
“As the human remains were suspected to be those of victims, they are to be examined first by the Institute of Forensic Medicine under the Ministry of Justice’s instruction. Once the remains are determined to be those of the victims, prosecutors would inform family members, and we would assist family members in making funeral arrangements,” it added.
Cleaning of train carriages in both accidents was completed in three stages, the agency said.
During the first stage, prosecutors from the Taoyuan and Keelung prosecutors’ offices on Sept. 1, Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 began inspecting carriages of the Taroko Express that were stored at the TRA’s Fugang operational base in Taoyuan and train depot in Keelung’s Cidu District (七堵).
During the second stage, the Yilan Prosecutors’ Office on Sept. 11 completed inspection of carriages of the Puyuma Express that were stored in the Fugang base. On Sept. 12, the Taoyuan and Keelung prosecutors’ offices completed inspections of the Taroko Express carriages.
During the final stage, the cleaning of the Puyuma Express carriages was completed on Friday last week, overseen by family members of the victims, the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office, the board, the Railway Police Bureau and the National Fire Agency.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS