Train derails in Taiwan, As Many As 36 dead , More Than 72 Injured

Taipei:  A train was derailed in Taiwan on Friday, killing as many as 36 people and 72 injured according to the authorities.

The derailment occurred in a tunnel in Hualian in eastern Taiwan where the train apprently hit a truck which was “not parked properly” was suspected of sliding into the path of the train,  Xinhua news agency quoted the country’s fire fighting agency as saying.

By around 10.30 a.m. (local time), three severely wounded people had been rushed to a hospital and some 20 others were awaiting treatment, the agency said.

The transport ministry put the death toll in the island’s worst rail disaster in more than three decades.

It added that some 80 to 100 people had been evacuated, while carriages five to eight have “deformed” and are hard to gain access .

{Input from IANS}