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TAIPEI. A frightening train accident in Taiwan caused dozens of deaths. According to the latest police update, at least 36 people have died and 72 injured. But the toll could be much worse because there are dozens of injured. Rescuers have already extracted 60 people from the first carriages and transported them to the hospital. The incident occurred around 9:30 am, north of the coastal city of Hualien.
The train, consisting of eight carriages, was heading from Taipei towards the city of Taitung, in the south-eastern part of the island and was overcrowded, at least 350 passengers on board: it derailed inside a tunnel and some carriages went crash into the wall. The accident was allegedly caused by a construction vehicle that was not parked properly on a nearby slope. The incident coincides with the start of a long holiday weekend, the festival of the cleaning of the graves (Festival Ching Ming), in which many people travel. The eastern Taiwan railway line is also a tourist attraction because it runs along the less inhabited and more spectacular coast of the island: a route that winds through tunnels and bridges between spectacular mountains and gorges and then descends towards the Huadong valley.