TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Hualien District Court on Friday (Nov. 11) sentenced the truck owner responsible for a train derailment that killed 49 people and injured 213 to a seven-year-and-10-month jail term.
Additionally, a railway company official was sentenced to an eight-year-and-10-month jail term, the highest among nine defendants.
It was found that Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥) — the truck owner and slope construction manager who was contracted by Taiwan Railway for safety enhancement work next to what became the crash site — did not follow safety procedures to retrieve a stalled construction crane truck. Also, the emergency break was not properly engaged, causing the truck on the slope to roll onto the track.
No due process was taken to notify police. In addition, no emergency units were deployed to stop the oncoming trains from crashing into the fallen truck.
Twenty months after the worst rail disaster in seven decades, the district court announced its rulings against nine people:
- Lee Yi-hsiang, truck owner and slope construction manager
- Migrant worker assisting Lee
- Lee's business partner
- Two owners of a construction company who lent out a license to help Lee's team avoid background checks on its safety violation records
- Site manager of construction company commissioned to supervise slope construction project
- Security guard on site
- Slope project manager
- Pan Tan-yi (潘堂益), railway company official responsible for supervising the project
Charged with eight crimes, including negligent homicide, running away from the accident, railtrack vandalism, negligent injury, and erroneous reporting of business documents, Lee was sentenced to a jail term of seven years and 10 months. Pan, the railway official, who failed to ensure the workers followed standard operating procedure, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months in jail on the charge of negligent homicide.
At 9:28 a.m. on April 2, 2021, the Taroko Express No. 408, from New Taipei's Shulin to Taitung, hit the fallen truck and derailed as it passed through the Qingshui Tunnel in Hualien County, killing 49 and injuring 213. The truck rolled onto the tracks a little over a minute before the train ran into it at 126 kilometers per hour.
