Taiwan Train Crash Kills More Than 50 People, Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant

From Reuters and Associated Press - More than 50 people died and more than 100 people were injured in a train crash in Taiwan on Thursday. Prosecutors are now seeking an arrest warrant for a construction site manager whose unmanned truck is believed to have caused the train accident.

The train crash occurred after an express train that was carrying nearly 500 passengers collided with an unmanned truck that slid about 65 feet down a bank in a construction site and onto the train track. The government's disaster relief center claimed that the manager of the construction site failed to properly engage the emergency brakes of the vehicle. Shortly after the collision, the train derailed in a tunnel just north of Hualien.

Railway Administration official Weng Hui-ping stated that it was Taiwan's deadliest rail disaster.

Yu Hsiu-duan, head of the Hualien prosectors office, told reporters on Friday that an arrest warrant had been sought and was being handled by the courts.

On Saturday morning, workers began moving the back part of the train down the track and away from the site of the accident. The front half of the train, which was more damaged, still remains inside the tunnel.

Image from Associated Press