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SCMP Reporter

At least 21 passengers were injured in Taipei when a section of a commuter train exploded and burst into flames near Songshan Station on Thursday night, Taiwanese media reported.
Witnesses reported hearing a blast before flames engulfed the carriage, Central News Agency reported.


The train was on its way from Hsinchu to Keelung.
Many of the victims suffered burns and several were being treated in hospital intensive care wards.
Taipei’s fire department was alerted to the blast at around 10pm and sent more than 10 ambulances and 10 fire engines to the scene. The fire has since been extinguished.

Police said they found what they believed to be a “firecracker” of between 15 and 20cm in length, which would be examined by forensics experts, the report said.
The police refused to comment on whether the blast was sabotage or an accident. But the United Daily News quoted an anonymous police source as saying firecrackers alone could not have caused such casualties. The incident could have been a deliberate act and involved other explosives, the report said.
A local newspaper quoted a witness as saying a man in his 40s walked a carriage on the train and placed a “black, long object” inside before leaving. An explosion was heard soon after.
One of the injured suffered burns to 30 per cent of the body, according to a medical staff.
Taiwanese Premier Lin Chuan scrambled a government emergency response unit and instructed transport and homeland security chiefs to visit the blast scene.


21 injured in Taipei commuter train blast

Emergency crews examine a commuter train after an explosion tripped through a carriage. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Taipei commuter train balst

Super Typhoon Nepartak: Taiwan and flood-hit mainland China brace as storm barrels in

Waves crash at the coast as Super Typhoon Nepartak approaches in Yilan, Taiwan, on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Bracing for the storm: dozens of Hong Kong flights cancelled as severe typhoon Nepartak nears

Taiwan military personnel distribute sand bags in Yilan County on the island’s east coast ahead of Nepartak. Photo: EPA

epa05409913 A Taiwanese walks past a video screen with the graph of Typhoon Nepartak heading towards Taiwan, inside the central weather bureau in Taipei, Taiwan, 06 July 2016. Taiwan Central Weather Bureau issued a sea warning for Typhoon Nepartak as it approaches towards southern and eastern Taiwan. Nepartak was centered 870 kilometers southeast of Hualien on Taiwan's east coast. Nepartak was estimated of a radius of 200 kilometers, moving at 320 kilometers per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 198 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 245 kilometers per hour. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

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