Taoyuan driver survives fall into 8-meter-deep subway tunnel

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) A Taoyuan woman escaped with only light injuries Thursday after accidentally driving her car into a work zone and falling eight meters into an under-construction subway tunnel, local authorities said.

The Taoyuan Police Department's Bade Precinct said it received a call at 1:50 p.m. Thursday about a car that had fallen into an underground Taoyuan Metro construction site on Jieshou Road Section 2.

Upon arriving at the scene, authorities discovered the driver, a 63-year-old woman surnamed Liao (廖), had fallen eight meters into a pit, apparently after becoming disoriented as she left a local supermarket.

Police said Liao was alone in the car and did not have any alcohol in her system. Surprisingly, she did not suffer any significant external injuries, and none of the workers inside the construction site were injured, the precinct said.

The exact cause of the accident is still being investigated.

According to the Taoyuan City Fire Department, firefighters arriving at the scene had to descend into the subway tunnel by ladder in order to retrieve Liao, fully conscious, from her vehicle.

She was later sent to Saint Paul's Hospital to be treated for scrapes and swelling on her right calf and a sore chest and waist, the department said.