Contractors ruled to pay NT$23 million in compensation for Taroko train crash

Taipei, Aug. 21 (CNA) Contractors involved in a construction project run by state-owned Taiwan Railway Corporation, which took a disastrous turn and led to the country's deadliest crash in 70 years, have been ordered to pay NT$23 million (US$721,000) in compensation to the victims, the Taiwan Hualien District Court said Wednesday.

According to Tuesday's ruling, the contractors must pay the compensation to Taiwan Railway, which filed a civil case holding them partly liable for compensating victims and their families after a Taroko Express train crashed in Hualien in 2021, killing 49 and injuring 200.

Taiwan Railway initially sought NT$170 million in compensation from the contractors after it paid NT$15.7 million to the relatives of each of the deceased, as well as for other medical and funeral expenses.

However, the court ruled Taiwan Railway was 40 percent responsible for the accident due to poor supervision and calculated the compensation the contractors were required to pay after subtracting the insurance payouts the company had received.

According to the court, the contractors, which include Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), a construction site manager and the main suspect in the accident, were 60 percent liable.

The ruling can be appealed.

Lee was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in jail in 2022. He was operating a crane truck on a construction site which fell onto the tracks and was smashed into by an approaching express train a minute later.

The crane truck had been stuck in bushes and stalled on a sharp curve on a construction access road. When Lee tried to pull the truck loose using a woven belt, it snapped, and the truck tumbled down onto the tracks.

Lee did not try to notify the company, which was then Taiwan Railways Administration, before the express train crashed, and the train driver did not see the truck soon enough to slow down the train before the collision occurred.