Rail tragedy: A crane lifting the wreckage of a truck which was hit by the train a day after the deadly train derailment at a tunnel north of Hualien. — Reuters
Hualien: Salvage teams began removing mangled train carriages after Taiwan’s worst rail disaster in decades killed at least 50 people, as flags flew half-mast across an island plunged into mourning.
Officials said Friday’s devastating collision was caused when a parked railway maintenance vehicle slipped down an embankment and onto the tracks.
A train packed with as many as 500 people at the start of a long holiday weekend then hit the truck just as it entered a narrow tunnel near the eastern coastal city of Hualien.