Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted two workers on charges of negligent manslaughter when a Taichung MRT train crashed into a crane boom that had fallen on the rail tracks, killing one person and injuring 15 others.
No charges were filed against Highwealth Construction Corp, the project operator of the construction site near the MRT route, and three other companies involved in the incident in May last year.
Highwealth had commissioned Chyi Yuh Construction Co to carry out the project. Chyi Yuh outsourced the tower crane operations on the top floor to United Machinery International Enterprise Co, which later commissioned an engineering company, Chia Yuan, to dismantle the crane structure on the day of accident.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
Last year, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office summoned eight on-site construction personnel involved in the crane operations, along with a train attendant and an MRT platform security guard as witnesses.
Four of them were suspected of committing offenses ranging from endangering public safety to negligent injury and manslaughter, the office said at the time.
The head of Chyi Yuh, surnamed Tsai (蔡), was released on bail of NT$500,000, and the head of Chia Yuan, surnamed Liu (劉), was freed on bail of NT$300,000.
The two workers who were operating the crane, surnamed Lu (呂) and Hsu (許), were released on bail of NT$200,000 each.
Other workers and witnesses were unconditionally let go.
Lu was operating the crane under instructions from Hsu, who did not follow the code of practice and chose to horizontally move the crane when he realized its bolt and rotating disc were stuck, resulting in the diagonal shear that dropped the crane boom onto the tracks, the office said, adding that they failed to pay due attention and committed offenses of negligent injury.
However, due to insufficient evidence, Tsai, the operations supervisor, and Liu — both of whom were working on the first floor — as well as the four companies and the personnel under their charge would not be prosecuted, the office said yesterday.
The Control Yuan had conducted an official inquiry and issued a corrective measure ordering the Ministry of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp to make improvements. The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board completed its investigation in June.
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,