A passenger train that was carrying an estimated 350 people has derailed in a tunnel in eastern Taiwan, which led to the deaths of 36 people and injuring dozens more, authorities said.
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The train, traveling to Taitung, derailed in a tunnel just north of Hualien Friday morning, causing several carriages to hit the wall of the tunnel. Around 60 people have been safely evacuated from the first three carriages.
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Images of the crash scene show carriages inside the tunnel crumbled and ripped apart from the impact, passengers gathering suitcases and bags in a tilted, derailed carriage and others walking along the tracks littered with wreckage.
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The accident occurred at the start of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day hospital.
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Taiwan’s mountainous east coast is a popular tourist destination. 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.