Driver, Philippine national, die in freeway car crash

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) A three-vehicle crash on National Freeway No. 1 in Miaoli County on Wednesday left two people dead, including a 62-year-old Philippine woman who was on her way to the airport, and four others injured, local authorities said.

The Philippine woman, one of three passengers in a van driven by a man surnamed Chiang (江), and a woman surnamed Lee (李), who had been driving a Tesla sedan, were found in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) when rescuers arrived.

Lee, 36, regained a heartbeat after being resuscitated at a local hospital but remained in a coma, while the Philippine woman and Chiang, 45, were later pronounced dead, local authorities said in the afternoon.

The accident began when the van, which was carrying two other passengers heading to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, rear-ended the Tesla sedan at the 147-kilometer mark in the northbound lanes of the Sanyi section of the freeway, police said.

Following the collision, Chiang and Lee got out of their vehicles and stood between them to talk, at which point a sedan driven by a 51-year-old woman surnamed Lin (林) slammed into the van, which collided into Chiang, Lee, and the Tesla sedan, police said.

Chiang was found pinned beneath the van, while the Philippine woman was trapped in the rear seat behind the front passenger seat, police said.

Lin and two other passengers in the van sustained multiple abrasions and contusions but remained conscious and in stable condition at the hospitals where they were treated, local authorities said.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.