《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Taiwanese killed in China bus crash

FUJIAN ACCIDENT: The MAC has asked government officials to follow up on the crash after a mudslide in heavy rain overturned the bus, killing one person and injuring 12

/ Staff Writer, with CNA

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A Taiwanese woman was killed and 12 others injured in a tour bus crash yesterday in southeastern China’s Fujian Province, the Tourism Bureau said.

Two of the injured remained in a serious condition as of press time last night.

The bus carrying 23 people, including 21 from Taiwan, was hit by a mudslide at 10:43am when the vehicle was traveling in heavy rain along a provincial highway in a mountainous area in Longyan City, bureau officials said, adding that they were exchanging information via cross-strait tourism associations.

Photographs released by Chinese media outlets showed the bus lying on its side near a slope and rescue workers pulling passengers out of the vehicle.

The person killed was said to be a 50-year-old woman from Chiayi. The two injured, who are both about 70 years old, are from Kaohsiung.

The 22 survivors, including a local driver, were sent to hospitals in the area for treatment, a Chinese tourism official said.

The tour group, arranged by Falcon Tour travel agency in Kaohsiung, left Taiwan on Friday for a four-day trip in China.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council （MAC） yesterday said it has expressed concern to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office over the accident.

Other cross-strait agencies that are helping to deal with the incident include the Straits Exchange Foundation, the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and their Chinese counterparts, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Cross-Strait Tourism Association, the MAC said.

MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng （邱垂正） said the government has assigned representatives to follow up on the situation and asked Chinese authorities to provide information and assistance.

All 12 Taiwanese tourists injured are in stable condition, said Liu Lien-kuan （劉連官）, division chief of the Fuzhou office of the Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES