Taiwan train crash kills at least 36

2 April 2021, 07:42

At least 36 people have been killed in a train crash in Taiwan, authorities have said.

Local media reported a truck fell from a cliff in eastern Taiwan and landed on a train line, where a passenger train emerging from a tunnel smashed into it.

The country's Transport Ministry said 36 people had "no signs of life" and a further 72 are injured after the disaster in the east of Taiwan on Friday.

Media reports say 350 passengers were on board the train when the crash occurred near the Toroko Gorge scenic area around 9am Friday - a public holiday.

It is thought the train smashed into a truck which was "not parked properly", according to local media.

Around 100 people have been evacuated from the first four carriages, while carriages five to eight have "deformed" and are hard to gain access to, officials said.

With much of the train still trapped in the tunnel, escaping passengers were forced to scale doors, windows and roofs to reach safety.

Television footage and photos posted by witnesses on the website of the official Central News Agency showed people climbing through the open door of a railcar just outside the entrance to the tunnel.

Taiwan's last major rail crash was in October 2018, when an express train derailed while rounding a tight corner on the north-east coast, killing at least 18 people and injuring nearly 200.

In 1991, a collision in western Taiwan killed 30 people and injured 112 in the country's deadliest train accident.