Three siblings of elementary-school age were injured, two of them seriously, when they were hit by a car as they crossed a street in Changhua County on Thursday evening, county police said.
Hemei Precinct police officer Lin Shih-shing (林世行) said yesterday that the two sisters and their brother were hit by a car driven by a 73-year-old man surnamed Hsiao (蕭) at 6:21pm when crossing an intersection in the county’s Shengang Township (伸港).
The heartbeats of the two sisters, who are in the third and fourth grades, stopped following the incident, but were later restarted by rescue personnel.
Photo: CNA
Show Chwan Memorial Hospital said the older sister appears to have serious brain damage. She was completely unresponsive, indicated by her score of 3 on the Glasgow coma scale, and was being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.
The hospital said it had informed the girl’s parents and the school’s principal that the girl’s condition was poor.
The other sister, being cared for at Changhua Christian Hospital, had low blood pressure and remained intubated in the facility’s pediatric intensive care unit because her condition was unstable.
Only the younger brother escaped serious injury, police said. He had abrasions on his left foot, and was discharged later on Thursday night.
Hsiao was operating the vehicle without a license, Lin said, but a breath alcohol test was negative, and police were still trying to establish how fast he was going at the time of the incident and whether the children followed traffic signs and signals.
The Changhua County Government said Changhua County Commissioner Wang Huei-mei (王惠美) went to the hospitals after hearing about the children and gave the parents NT$20,000 to help them get through their ordeal.
Wang also directed the county’s Department of Social Affairs and Department of Education to provide any necessary assistance in providing care because the children were from a low-income household.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,