#Taiwan train crash kills 34, injures dozens

A passenger train in Taiwan crashed into a truck Friday, causing a deadly derailment that killed 34 people and seriously injured dozens of others.

Witnesses said they saw survivors climbing out of windows and onto the roof in a desperate attempt to escape the wreckage.

The crash took place near the Toroko Gorge scenic area, on the country’s east coast.

According to local reports, the truck had fallen off a cliff and onto the tracks just as the train was emerging from a tunnel. More than 350 people were aboard, and a large portion of the train was still in the tunnel when it derailed.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen ordered all hospitals to prepare for a flood of patients.

Ing-wen’s office also issued a statement, saying “the top priority now is to rescue the stranded people.”

The crash occurred on the first day of the country’s Tomb Sweeping Festival.

Taiwan’s most recent train crash came in 2018, when another train derailed while rounding a corner, killing 18 and wounding almost 200.

In 1991, another crash in Western Taiwan killed 30 people and injured 112, making it the most deadly train accident in the country.

With Post wires