8 from junior high baseball team injured after minivan flips on freeway

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) A minivan carrying the Chiayi Jong Ho Junior High School baseball team overturned in Tainan's Baihe District on Thursday morning, injuring a coach and seven students.

According to the Chiayi County Department of Education, the team was traveling in two vans to attend the Maple Leaf Baseball Championships in Taitung.

The team's coach was driving the van when the accident occurred at around 9:17 a.m. at the 308-kilometer mark on the southbound side of National Freeway No. 3, the Chiayi County Department of Education said.

The department said that the vehicle lost control due to heavy rain and falling branches.

Four students with serious injuries were taken to Chi Mei Medical Center in Tainan, according to Fang Hsin-yu (方信于), principal of Jong Ho Junior High School.

One of the injured students suffered a suspected intracerebral hemorrhage and was later transferred to another facility, Fang said.

Two others remain hospitalized for observation, and one has been discharged, the principal added.

The coach and the other three students with minor injuries were taken to St. Martin De Porres Hospital and have all been discharged, Fang said, adding that the players' parents had been informed of the incident.

(By Huang Kuo-fang and Lee Chieh-yu)

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