36 dead, several injured as train derails

In a tragic incident, at least 36 people lost their lives and several others were injured as a train they were travelling derailed.  The train derailed inside a tunnel near the coastal city of Hualien in eastern Taiwan on Friday.

The train carrying around 350 people was  travelling to Taitung came off the rails in a tunnel just north of Hualien causing some carriages to hit the wall of the tunnel, the fire department said in a statement. As per latest reports, 72 people were still believed to be trapped inside the  train.  61 passengers had been sent to hospital.

In 2018, 18 people died and 175 were injured when a train derailed in northeastern Taiwan, in the island’s worst rail disaster in more than three decades.

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