The manager of a construction site whose truck slid onto rail tracks causing a catastrophic train crash in Taiwan has accepted responsibility for the disaster, as did the transport minister, although his offer to resign was rejected for now.
In the island's worst rail accident in seven decades, 50 people have been confirmed dead after a packed express train carrying almost 500 passengers and crew slammed into a truck near the eastern city of Hualien on Friday, causing it to derail and the front part to crumple.
The truck that the train hit had slid down a sloping road onto the track just outside a tunnel. Officials are investigating the manager of the construction site, Lee Yi-hsiang, whose truck is suspected of not having its brakes properly applied.
Lee had been released on bail, though the high court's Hualien branch on Sunday rescinded that decision after the prosecutors appealed it, sending the case back to the lower court.
Lee on Sunday read out a statement apologising for what happened as police took him away from his residence, Taiwan media reported.
"I deeply regret this and express my deepest apologies," he said. "I will definitely co-operate with the prosecutors and police in the investigation, accept the responsibility that should be borne, and never shirk it. Finally, I once again express my sincerest apologies."
Speaking earlier in the day at the crash site overlooking the ocean and backed by precipitous mountains, Transport Minister Lin Chia-lung said he too would "not avoid" responsibility.
The manager of a construction site whose truck slid onto rail tracks causing a catastrophic train crash in Taiwan has accepted responsibility for the disaster. Source: LightRocket
"I am also in charge of minimising the damage caused by the entire accident. After the whole rescue work is completed, I believe I will take the responsibility," he said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang's office said Lin had made a verbal offer to resign on Saturday, but Su rejected it for the time being, saying efforts for now should focus on rescue and recovery.
Grieving relatives of those who died in Taiwan's worst rail disaster in decades held prayers at the crash site on Saturday as salvage crews worked to remove the tangled mass of wrecked carriages.
Around one hundred relatives held an emotional Taoist prayer ceremony near the crash site on Saturday afternoon, shaded under a canopy of black umbrellas.
Many wept openly as they surveyed the scene, some holding makeshift shrines inscribed with the names of those who died.
Some called out the names of their loved ones as other family members held them tight.
Rescuers described an appalling scene as they rushed into the tunnel and found the front of the train pulverised into a twisted mesh of metal.
Taiwan's transportation ministry said 51 people died and many others were injured when a train carrying 490 people derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien. Source: EPA
"Car number eight had the most serious injuries and number of deaths," rescue worker Chang Zi-chen told reporters on Saturday, referring to the most forward passenger car.
"Basically more than half of the carriage was split open and bodies were all piled up together."
Specialist teams spent hours extracting victims and survivors on Friday.
On Saturday, focus shifted to removing carriages now blocking one half of the sole train line down Taiwan's remote and mountainous eastern coastline.
Two giant cranes were being used to move the carriages and rescuers said further bodies might still be found inside the most damaged cars inside the tunnel.
'Really devastating'
The Interior Ministry ordered all flags to be lowered to half-mast for three days while President Tsai Ing-wen visited the wounded in Hualien's hospitals.
"Government agencies are making an all-out effort in the hope of minimising the impact of the disaster so the deceased can rest in peace and the injured can recover soon," she told reporters.
Friday's crash took place at the start of the Tomb Sweeping Festival, a four-day public holiday when many Taiwanese return to villages to tidy the graves of their ancestors.
A French and two American nationals were among the foreigners killed, authorities said. The youngest victim was four-years-old.
Two Australians were treated for minor injuries after the crash, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed on Saturday.
It said officials were in the process of checking with Taiwanese authorities whether any other Australians were involved.
Survivors gave terrifying testimony of their ordeal inside the train after the crash.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (C) visits those injured in a train derailment at a near by hospital in Hualien, eastern Taiwan. Source: Taiwan Presidential Office
Many of those on board were standing in the aisles because the route was so busy with those leaving the capital Taipei and heading to their home villages.
"I saw bodies and body parts all over the place, it's really devastating," a man surnamed Lo told the Apple Daily newspaper.
"Humans are fragile and their lives are gone all of a sudden."
Investigators are focusing on how the maintenance truck could have slipped onto the tracks.
The driver was part of a team that conducts regular landslide checks on the mountainous route.
Officials said he may have failed to properly engage the parking brake.
Apple Daily reported that prosecutors had also raided the offices of the company contracted to do the trackside maintenance work.
Taiwan's eastern railway line is a popular tourist draw down its less populated eastern coastline.
With the help of multiple tunnels and bridges, it winds its way through towering mountains and dramatic gorges before entering the picturesque Huadong Valley.
Friday's crash took place near two of the most famous landmarks on the eastern shoreline -- the Tarako Gorge and dramatic Qingshui Cliffs.
A world-class bullet train system also serves the heavily populated western side of the island.
Friday's crash looks set to be one of Taiwan's worst railway accidents on record.
The last major train derailment in Taiwan was in 2018 and left 18 people dead on the same eastern line.
That crash was the island's worst since 1991, when 30 passengers were killed.
Other major crashes that killed dozens have taken place in 1981, 1978 and 1961.
Taiwan's most deadly rail disaster on record was in 1948 when a train caught fire and 64 people perished.
