Investigators checking the wreckage of a tour bus that caught fire and killed 26 people in Taoyuan, Taiwan. (Photo : Getty Images)
Twenty-six people were killed in a fire after a tour bus crashed into a highway guard rail near Taoyuan International Airport.
Among the dead are 24 mainland Chinese tourists. Three of them were children. The incident occurred after lunch, local time. The bus was westbound on the highway and headed for the airport, where the tour group was due to fly back home. The tourism bureau confirmed that the group of tourists was from Dalian City in Liaoning Province, China.
The front and top portion of the bus were blackened by ash and soot after the intense fire, hot enough to incinerate the passengers and driver.
“None of the passengers survived the accident, which also killed the driver and the tour guide from Taiwan,” Lu Jui-yao, a highway police chief, said.
A truck driver who tried in vain to help people on the burning bus told the SET cable television channel: “I heard some people shouting for help, but I had no idea how many were in the bus.” He said that when he saw the bus was on fire, he stopped his truck and tried unsuccessfully to help rescue the passengers.
According to the firefighters, the fire started from the front of the bus, suffocating and burning everyone inside.
“Nine bodies were found close together in the rear part of the bus, indicating they might have tried to escape via the emergency exit,” said one firefighter.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang said that an emergency response mechanism had been activated.
Relations between Taiwan and China have not been good for a while. China’s “One China” policy views the island as a province, while in Taiwan, a territory with its own democratically elected government, leading political voices have differing views on the island's status and relations with the mainland.
Most analysts said they did not think the tragedy would provide an opportunity for the two sides to mend fences.
