More than 170 people injured after Puyuma express service comes off tracks on a bend

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Eighteen have been killed and 171 injured in Taiwan after an express train derailed on a popular weekend route, officials said.

The Puyuma service was carrying more than 366 passengers from a suburb of Taipei toward Taitung, a city on Taiwan’s south-east coast, when it came off the tracks at a curve at about 4.50pm local time.

Hours later, one of the train’s eight cars was lying overturned at a 75-degree angle. Its entire right side had been destroyed.

Some passengers were crushed to death, said the defence ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi. “Their train car turned over. They were crushed so they died right away.”

Soldiers were removing bodies and attempting to identify them, Chen added but nightfall was complicating rescue work.

Images from the scene, just south of the city of Luodong, showed the train’s eight cars in a zig-zag formation near the tracks. Five of the cars were on their sides.

Most of the deaths were in the first car, which flipped over, a government spokesman said. It was unclear how many people may still be trapped in the train, said the spokesman. About 120 soldiers joined firefighters in the rescue work.

A live video feed provided by Taiwan’s United Daily News showed rescuers carefully carrying what appeared to be a body wrapped in white plastic away from the site.

Local television reports said passengers were trying to escape through train windows and that bystanders had gathered to help before rescuers arrived.

The Puyuma was launched in 2013 to handle the difficult topography of Taiwan’s east coast and isseparate from the high-speed rail that runs on the west coast. The trains travel up to 93 miles (150km) per hour, faster than any other in Taiwan except for high-speed rail.

The train that derailed is six years old and its most recent inspection and major maintenance took place in 2017, Taiwan Railways administration director Lu Chie-shen said at a televised news conference.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the derailment.