Burning bus travelled 1.4km before crash: inquiry into deadly Taiwan tour coach blaze focuses on driver
Investigators try to determine why burning vehicle travelled 1.4km before crashing into road barrier
Taiwanese investigators were trying to determine on Wednesday if a bus driver lost consciousness before his burning coach smashed into a crash barrier on Tuesday, killing 26 people.
They were also investigating whether the bus company defied safety regulations by adding anti-theft bolts to the front and back doors of the vehicle.
“Under normal conditions, if the driver finds the bus is on fire, he will stop the vehicle immediately. But from what was captured through the surveillance cameras, the burning bus travelled 1.4km before ramming into the crash barrier,” an investigator from the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office said.
Investigators suspected that the bus driver, identified only by his family name Su, might have lost consciousness after the coach burst into flames, he said.
Nobody on board the vehicle, including 24 tourists from Liaoning province, survived the accident.
The bus driver and a local guide were also killed.
The tourists were just minutes from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they were due to take a flight home at the end of their eight-day trip, police and tourism officials said.
Investigators said they were looking for evidence as to why no one escaped, especially when the bus had various emergency exits.
On Tuesday, police said nine bodies were found together at the back of the bus, suggesting they might have tried to escape through the rear emergency exit.
Investigators also found that one of the back exit doors on the bus was locked.
The other rear exit could not be opened because it was blocked by the roadside barrier.
“We want to know whether the exits could be opened from the inside,” the investigator said.
There were eight emergency exits on the bus, but the front section was on fire and passengers could only try to escape through the back.
After media reports that many coach companies illegally altered the locks of the exits to prevent thefts, the island’s transport ministry yesterday ordered all coaches to undergo safety checks.
Meanwhile, nine mainland officials, including a director-level official from the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, arrived in Taipei to deal with the aftermath of the bus fire tragedy.
Sixty relatives of the mainland victims were scheduled to arrive in Taiwan on Thursday.
