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July 29, 2016

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Faulty tour buses off the road in Taiwan

TAIWAN yesterday ordered almost half the tour buses inspected after a recent bus inferno, which killed dozens of Chinese mainland tourists, off the road after they failed new safety checks.

Twenty-four mainland tourists and two Taiwan residents died in the fire earlier this month, the worst road accident ever to hit mainland visitors to the island — raising major safety questions.

Nine of 20 buses of the model which caught fire have been taken off the road due to problems with circuit fuses and storage batteries, highway department officials said yesterday. Three more such buses had minor issues, which authorities have ordered be repaired.

The bus, operated by the Mei Kui Shih Transportation Company, caught fire and smashed through an expressway barrier last week, just a few kilometers from Taipei’s Taoyuan airport.

Taiwan prosecutors are probing the exact cause of the disaster and say the fire started at the front of the bus, near the driver’s seat.

Questions have also been raised over the driver’s mental state after five bottles of gasoline were found in the bus — despite regulations banning inflammable substances in a vehicle.

“We have twice searched residences of the driver and looked into his medical records to clarify his mental state prior to the accident,” said Wang Yi-wen, a spokesman for the Taoyuan district prosecutors office.

The driver’s relatives and coworkers are also being questioned, he added.

Distraught relatives of the mainland victims have questioned why no one was able to escape through the emergency exits when the fire ripped through the bus.

Pictures from the scene showed two men outside the bus trying to smash windows open with fire extinguishers.

One witness said trapped passengers inside the bus had been pounding on the windows as it careered off the road.

Mainland officials have demanded Taiwan take measures to ensure the safety of mainland visitors to the island.

Taiwan’s official data showed the number of Chinese mainland tourists dropped 16 percent in May-July 2016 compared to the same period last year.




 

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