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President expresses concerns over tour bus blaze accident

President expresses concerns over tour bus blaze accident

President expresses concerns over tour bus blaze accident

President Tsai Ing-wen was informed of the tour bus fire incident and has expressed concerns over the tragic news, said the Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang Tuesday. An accident occurred Tuesday around 1 p.m. when a tour bus crashed into an expressway guardrail near Taoyuan International Airport, which led to the deaths of 26 people, most of them tourists from China, according to Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau. A Taiwanese tour guide and the bus driver also died from the tragedy. The bus was reportedly taking the group of tourists to the airport for a flight home at the end of their 8-day trip to Taiwan, according to media reports. Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang said that the president was informed of the incident by her aides around 2 p.m. and has immediately expressed concerns about the tragic news. She will be informed with further details as they become available, said Huang. Meanwhile, Taoyuan City government and the Ministry of the Interior have both established local and Central Emergency Operation Center in support of incident response and recovery operations, the spokesman said. According to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, in case of a disaster that involves more than 15 casualties, the minister of the central regulating authorities of disaster prevention and protection shall establish Central Emergency Operation Center, and the municipal government shall be immediately notified to establish the disaster response center based on the severity or the need to contact. The tour bus blaze incident was regarded as one of the worst accidents involving Chinese tourists in Taiwan.