New Delhi oct.22 : At least 22 people were killed and 171 others sustained grievous injuries when one of Taiwan’s fastest trains Puyama Express derailed on a curve along a popular weekend route during late hours of Sunday night.
One of the train’s eight cars was seen overturned at about a 75-degree angle, with the entire right side destroyed. Firefighters engaged in the rescue operations are fearing that people may be trapped beneath the train coaches. The overturned coaches are being lifted by cranes.
As per reports by Taiwanese government, the train had more than 366 passengers onboard. It was travelling from a suburb of Taipei in the north to Taitung on Taiwan’s southeast coast when it derailed at 4:50 p.m.
Local television reports claimed passengers were trying to escape through train windows and that bystanders had gathered to help them before rescuers arrived.
Prasanta Patnaik