《TAIPEI TIMES》 Derailment families now able to retrieve belongings

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

More than 200 belongings of passengers who were killed in the derailments of Puyuma Express 6432 in Yilan in 2018 and Taroko Express 408 in Hualien in 2021 are now available for family members to retrieve following conclusions of investigations into the incidents, the Taiwan Railways Administration （TRA） said in a statement yesterday.

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The agency’s handling of remains and belongings came under scrutiny, after family members of victims who had died in the Taroko Express derailment found skull fragments when returning to the site of the accident.

The Executive Yuan on Sept. 6 convened a meeting to review results of the investigations into the two accidents and procedures that were followed to preserve train carriages.

Following the Cabinet-level meeting, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board and prosecutors were instructed by the Executive Yuan to work together and list items that are to be returned to the TRA along with the train carriages, the railway agency said.

Once the train carriages were returned, the TRA is responsible for inviting family members, the board, third-party experts, prosecutors and police to oversee the cleaning process, the agency said, adding that the carriages should be preserved for future use in railway safety education.

“We have found 35 remaining items in the Puyuma Express carriages, and 170 in the Taroko Express carriages. These items have been announced to the public and are waiting to be reclaimed by family members,” the agency said.

“As the human remains were suspected to be those of victims, they are to be examined first by the Institute of Forensic Medicine under the Ministry of Justice’s instruction. Once the remains are determined to be those of the victims, prosecutors would inform family members, and we would assist family members in making funeral arrangements,” it added.

Cleaning of train carriages in both accidents was completed in three stages, the agency said.

During the first stage, prosecutors from the Taoyuan and Keelung prosecutors’ offices on Sept. 1, Sept. 4 and Sept. 5 began inspecting carriages of the Taroko Express that were stored at the TRA’s Fugang operational base in Taoyuan and train depot in Keelung’s Cidu District （七堵）.

During the second stage, the Yilan Prosecutors’ Office on Sept. 11 completed inspection of carriages of the Puyuma Express that were stored in the Fugang base. On Sept. 12, the Taoyuan and Keelung prosecutors’ offices completed inspections of the Taroko Express carriages.

During the final stage, the cleaning of the Puyuma Express carriages was completed on Friday last week, overseen by family members of the victims, the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office, the board, the Railway Police Bureau and the National Fire Agency.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES