At Least 50 Dead as Taiwan Train Derails in Tunnel

People walk next to a train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021, in this handout image provided by Taiwan's National Fire Agency. (Handout via Reuters)
People walk next to a train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021, in this handout image provided by Taiwan's National Fire Agency. (Handout via Reuters)
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At Least 50 Dead as Taiwan Train Derails in Tunnel

People walk next to a train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021, in this handout image provided by Taiwan's National Fire Agency. (Handout via Reuters)
People walk next to a train which derailed in a tunnel north of Hualien, Taiwan April 2, 2021, in this handout image provided by Taiwan's National Fire Agency. (Handout via Reuters)

At least 50 people were killed in Taiwan on Friday when a packed train collided with a vehicle on the tracks and then derailed inside a tunnel, in the island's worst railway accident in decades.

Officials said the devastating collision was caused by a railway maintenance vehicle that slipped down an embankment above the tracks near the eastern coastal city of Hualien.

"(The driver) was suspected of not pulling the parking brake tight enough so the vehicle slid 20 meters... onto the train line," Feng Hui-sheng, deputy director of Taiwan Railways Authority, told reporters.

Local media images from the scene showed the back of a yellow flatbed truck on its side next to the train just a few meters from the tunnel entrance.

The eight-carriage train was packed with some 480 people heading down the east coast for the annual Tomb Sweeping Festival, a four-day public holiday.

The Taiwan Railways Agency said 146 passengers were sent to hospital in addition to the 50 confirmed dead.

A French national was among those killed while two Japanese and one Macau resident were injured. A previous statement from the agency gave a death toll of 51.

One unnamed female survivor told TVBS news channel of trapped passengers -- some crying out for help, others unconscious.

"There were many people pressed under the seats and others on top of those seats too," she said.

President Tsai Ing-wen visited an emergency response center in the capital Taipei, and said investigators would get to the bottom of how such a deadly crash could have occurred.

"We will definitely clarify the cause of the incident that has caused major casualties," she told reporters.

"I hope the deceased can rest in peace and the wounded can recover soon."

Narrow tunnel
The accident occurred on Taiwan's eastern railway line around 9:30 am (0130 GMT).

Pictures published by local newspaper UDN showed the front of the train inside the tunnel had been pulverized into a twisted mesh of metal.

Rescuers worked for hours to reach those trapped inside the tunnel and haul them out, using buzzsaws to slice through warped sheets of metal.

Footage released by the Taiwan Red Cross showed specialists with helmets and headlights had to use the roof of the stricken train to reach people inside the narrow single-track tunnel.

By mid-afternoon, officials said there were no people left inside the carriages but dozens of rescuers remained on site as evening set in, according to AFP reporters at the crash scene.

Due to a long history of deadly earthquakes, Taiwan has experienced rescue teams on permanent standby to deal with disasters and retrieve trapped people.

'Violent jolt'
People further back in the train were able to walk away from the crash comparatively unscathed.

A live Facebook broadcast by UDN outside the tunnel showed a row of undamaged train carriages with rescuers helping passengers escape.

"It felt like there was a sudden violent jolt and I found myself falling to the floor," an unidentified female survivor told the network, saying she suffered a cut to her head.

"We broke the window to climb to the roof of the train to get out."

The annual Tomb Sweeping Festival is an especially busy time of the year for Taiwan's roads and railways.

During the festival, people return to ancestral villages to tidy up the graves of their relatives and make offerings.

Taiwan's eastern railway line is usually a popular tourist draw down its dramatic and less populated eastern coastline.

With the help of multiple tunnels and bridges, it winds its way through towering mountains and dramatic gorges before entering the picturesque Huadong Valley.

Friday's crash looks set to be one of Taiwan's worst railway accidents on record.

The last major train derailment in Taiwan was in 2018 and left 18 people dead at the southern end of the same line.

That crash was the island's worst since 1991, when 30 passengers were killed and 112 injured after two trains collided in Miaoli.

Thirty were also killed in 1981 after a truck collided with a passenger train at a level crossing and sent coaches over a bridge in Hsinchu.

The Apple Daily newspaper said the island's worst crash was in 1948 when 64 died.

Another crash in 1961 killed 48, while a 1978 crash left 41 dead.



Pro-Palestinian Activists Charged with Damaging Planes at UK Air Base are Held in Custody

An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
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Pro-Palestinian Activists Charged with Damaging Planes at UK Air Base are Held in Custody

An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo
An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group's action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, "interrupted Britain's direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East", stating on their website. Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS/File photo

Four pro-Palestinian protesters were held in custody Thursday after their first appearance in a London court on charges they damaged two Royal Air Force planes with red paint and crowbars.

The charges come after the group Palestine Action said two of its members entered RAF Brize Norton on June 20 and used electric scooters to approach two Voyager jets used for air-to-air refueling. The protesters used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray paint into the planes’ jet engines and caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage of the incident, The AP news reported.

The four, all between the ages of 22 and 35, are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the UK, counterterror police said in a statement. The Crown Prosecution Service will argue that the offenses have a “terrorist connection,” police said.

The group did not enter pleas in Westminster Magistrates’ Court. They were scheduled to appear July 18 at the Central Criminal Court.

Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents targeting Israeli defense contractors in the UK and other sites linked to the war in Gaza.

Following the incident at RAF Brize Norton, the government introduced legislation to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. The measure, being debated in Parliament, would make it a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action said its protests are designed to end international support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain’s main air base for operations in the Middle East.