TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Four bodies were recovered from fallen debris on a mountain hiking trail on Wednesday (April 10), including two who were embracing each other.
On the eighth day since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Hualien, a landslide zone in the Taroko National Park remains a focal point for search and rescue efforts. On Wednesday, rescuers recovered the bodies of one male and one female along the trail, and later in the day, near the female victim's body, two more corpses were found, reported UDN.
At 11:45 a.m., while searching the Mysterious Valley Trail (Shakadang Trail) in Hualien County's Xiulin Township, the first body, that of a female was exhumed. Due to decomposition, the identity could not be discerned.
In the afternoon, around 3 p.m., the second body buried deeper was also unearthed. It was preliminarily determined to be male.
Both bodies were then transported to the Hualien City Funeral Home, where prosecutors have initiated DNA testing to confirm their identities.
Also at around 3 p.m., at the site where the first body was found, search and rescue personnel discovered the third and fourth bodies under a pile of soil and rocks. They were found in an embracing position at a depth of 3-5 meters.
Efforts are underway to excavate the soil and rocks and retrieve the bodies.
The bodies of the first two victims unearthed on Wednesday are believed to be those of a man surnamed Yu (游) and his 11-year-old daughter, on April 5, reported CNA. However, they were unable to remove bodies due to the weight of the rocks until heavy machinery was brought in.
Also with Yu that day were his wife, 8-year-old son, and 5-year-old daughter. All three are still missing and it has not yet been confirmed that the third and fourth bodies found on Wednesday are Yu's family members.
As for the missing Singaporean couple, witnesses reported seeing them near a large water pipe about 1.8 kilometers from the entrance to the trail. On Wednesday, search and rescue teams dispatched six personnel and three dogs to search the area, but as of 2 p.m., there has been no progress in finding them.