Tourist bus inferno leaves all 26 people on board dead

TAIPEI: A fire that engulfed a tour bus in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, yesterday left 26 people dead, including three children aged between 12 and 13, local authorities said.

The National Fire Agency told Kyodo News that all of the passengers and crew on board the bus died. The 24 passengers were all Chinese tourists from eastern Liaoning province. The bus driver and tour guide, who also died, were Taiwanese nationals.

It is the worst road accident involving Chinese tourists since Taiwan partially lifted its ban on visitors from China in 2008 in the wake of improvement in bilateral ties.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said the victims’ families will arrive in Taiwan as early as today. The ministry also ordered the bus operator to suspend services of the same model as the bus in the accident for safety inspections.

The Chinese tourist group, which entered Taiwan on July 12 for a one-week trip, was travelling to Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport for a flight back to China yesterday afternoon.

The National Highway Police Bureau said the bus caught fire at around 1pm and subsequently hit a highway fence of the inside lane and then a fence of the outside lane before it was engulfed in flames and reduced to a charred shell.

The fire was extinguished about 1.20pm. Authorities have begun investigating the cause of the blaze.

China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported that the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council launched an emergency mechanism after the “serious incident” and that a working team will be sent to Taiwan to assist relatives of the victims to handle the aftermath.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement expressing regret over the “unfortunate incident”, saying the council and other government agencies will offer all necessary assistance to the victims’ families.

It said the council and the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation informed their Chinese counterparts following the incident through existing communication channels and that it will keep them informed of the latest information.

Communications between the two sides have been suspended since President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in May.

Taiwan and China have been governed separately since they split amid a civil war in 1949.

Beijing has since then endeavoured to isolate Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.