Taiwan train crash: Woman loses 8 family members
Taiwan President meets relatives of victims
YILAN: In a split second, happiness turned to tragedy for this family in Taiwan.
Ms Tung Xiao-ling, 43, sobbed as she told Reuters how she had lost eight of 17 family members, aged nine to 67, as they returned from celebrating her sister's wedding.
"No one can accept that one day you are a bride and the next day you are mourning a family member," said Ms Tung, who was not on board the derailed train.
"I hope they find out what happened as soon as possible. We trusted the safety of Puyuma," she said, referring to the Puyuma Express train line.
Taiwan's worst train disaster in nearly 30 years left at least 18 dead and 187 injured after all eight cars of the train carrying 366 passengers left the tracks on a bend near a railway station in Yilan county, about 40km from Taipei, the capital.
The train is the fastest among Taiwan's regular trains and went into operation in 2013 to negotiate the tough topography of Taiwan's east coast.
Mr Jerry Wang, the father of a surviving student from a school party, said the group had been returning from an exchange trip to South Korea.
He said his 14-year-old son Wang Yu-fei had suffered injuries to his stomach, kidneys, and pelvis, all due to massive frontal impact.
The student's grandparents said he is now off life support but remains in intensive care.
"I was begging God to give him back to me," said Mr Wang.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen offered words of consolation yesterday as she met relatives of the victims.
Ms Tsai joined Buddhist monks in prayer before an altar adorned with flowers next to a county hospital, while nearby, relatives and friends of the victims wept as they sifted through battered suitcases recovered from the train wreck.
"We are really sorry... You have to stay strong," Ms Tsai told Mr Chen Yu-chan, 41, whose only daughter, a seventh grader, was killed.
"We will do everything we can," she told another person, who was sobbing bitterly during her visit to the hospital.
Said Mr Chen Tai-liang, whose niece was the seventh grader: "This is something that is not supposed to happen when taking a train."
"Why did it happen?" he asked, after speaking to Ms Tsai.
Not much is clear.
Survivors recalled how the train had been shaking intensely and was going "very fast" before it derailed. One passenger who identified herself only as Mrs Chiu said the train had stopped twice and there had been an announcement that it needed repairs, but it had restarted.
"We felt that the speed was too fast, then there was a crashing sound and we flew off (from the seats)," she said, adding that many passengers were sleeping.
Many of the casualties happened in a carriage at the front of the train, said one official, adding that the driver, surnamed You, has been moved out of intensive care, though his condition is still unstable.
"We will ask him what happened after he stabilises," said the head of the car maintenance unit of the railways, Mr Liu Can-huang.
The train recorder, which tracks speed, among other data, has been sent to prosecutors to be examined, he added.
The head of the state railway administration Lu Jie-shen had offered to resign but the Transport Minister did not accept the offer, the Central News Agency reported. - REUTERS, AFP
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