‘NO CONSPIRACY’

Manager of Taiwan Train Crash Construction Site Released on Bail

It is believed a truck rolled from a building site into the path of the express train, leading to the deaths of 50+ people.

A Taiwan court has freed on bail the manager of a construction site whose truck likely caused a horrific train crash that killed at least 51 people after an express train hit a truck that had slid down a bank on to the track from the site. The site’s manager is suspected of having failed to properly engage the truck’s brake. Prosecutors had applied to a court to detain the manager on charges of causing death by negligence, a justice ministry official told reporters Saturday. But a court in Hualien released the manager, Lee Yi-hsiang, on a bond of 500,000 Taiwan dollars (€14,895), although it restricted him from leaving Taiwan for eight months and said he had to stay in Hualien. The court said that while the truck’s fall into the path of the train was possibly due to negligence, there was “no possibility of conspiracy.” Lee said: “I deeply regret this and express my deepest apologies. I will definitely co-operate with the prosecutors and police in the investigation, accept the responsibility that should be borne and never shirk it. Finally, I once again express my sincerest apologies.”