'Close call!': Motorcyclist injured after drill pipe pierces underpass

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) An elderly motorcyclist was injured in New Taipei on Thursday when he fell trying to avoid colliding with a large steel drill pipe that had pierced through the ceiling of a motorcycle underpass.

"Close call! He narrowly avoided death," said one witness to the incident that occurred around noon near the intersection of Zhongzheng East Road and Danjin Road in the northern city's Tamsui District.

"If he had been riding his bike a little bit faster, the pipe could have impaled him," according to witnesses at the scene.

The 70-year-old man, identified by his surname Lai (賴), suffered abrasions after falling when trying to dodge the unexpected obstacle, according to the New Taipei City Police Department's Tamsui Precinct.

Police said employees of a construction company had inadvertently penetrated the motorcycle underpass using a pile driver, a heavy-duty tool used to build pole-supported structures, due to a "measurement error."

The New Construction Office of the New Taipei City Public Works Department told CNA that the contractor made the potentially-fatal mistake while conducting drilling work on a nearby water level observation well.

"The injured person's condition is stable," the office said, adding that it takes "full responsibility" for the incident.

Explaining that a contracted worker had made an ad hoc adjustment to the drilling location after encountering an initial obstacle, the office said the contractor will face a "heavy penalty" according to the terms of the contract.

The underpass was reopened for traffic at around 4 p.m.