HUALIEN, Taiwan – Two days after Taiwan’s deadliest rail disaster in decades, investigators were working on Sunday to determine why a truck slid down a construction site down the road to an express train, resulting in collision and derailment. that killed dozens of people.
Crane truck operator Lee Yi-hsiang was arrested on Sunday by a judge, who reversed an earlier decision to grant him bail. Lee, who was not charged with any crime, told reporters that he caused the accident and said he would take full responsibility for it.
“I express my deepest regret and my sincere apologies,” said Mr. Lee, his voice breaking as he bowed in apology.
But investigators were still trying to determine whether Mr. Lee had neglected to use the handbrake or whether the truck was defective. Lee told reporters on Saturday that he applied the brake.
Other aspects of the disaster are also being investigated. Authorities said they were trying to determine exactly when the train driver applied the brake before the collision.
Authorities said on Sunday that 50 people died in the fall of the eight-car Taroko Express, which derailed and crashed into the tunnel wall after hitting the truck on Friday. The train was packed, carrying 498 people on the first day of an extended holiday.
Authorities had estimated the death toll at 51. Identifying the victims has been a slow and difficult process, and emergency personnel were still trying on Sunday to clear the wreckage from the tunnel and recover the victims’ remains. Thirty-seven survivors of the accident were still hospitalized on Sunday, officials said.
Some survivors and relatives of the dead showed more sadness than anger. Taiwan’s last serious train accident in 2018 was caused by the driver’s negligence, but initial impressions were that Friday’s collision was more like a strange accident.
Some family members said they did not want to assign responsibility for the disaster before the government ended the investigation, which officials said would take about two months.
“I don’t want to blame anyone,” said Wu Ming-yu, 68, on Sunday, as he sat with relatives under a tent at a funeral home in Hualien, a city south of the accident site on Taiwan’s east coast. They were waiting for a mortal makeup artist to finish work on the body of Wu’s daughter, Huang Chiao-ling, a 35-year-old nurse who was on her way to see her family.
Still, Ms. Wu said she feared that the construction site would not meet safety standards. “You have to ensure construction safety, because if you don’t, you will end up hurting other people,” said Ms. Wu.
The construction project was commissioned by the Taiwanese transport ministry to improve the safety of the slope near the accident site, which took place on a steep slope on the Pacific coast. It was part of a larger six-year plan to increase rail safety in Taiwan. Mr. Lee, the crane truck operator, was also the manager of the project site.
“It is ironic and pitiful,” said Yusin Lee, professor of civil engineering and director of the Center for Railway Studies at Cheng Kung National University in the southern city of Tainan. “It is a reminder that even when we have construction projects focused on safety, we still have to keep safety in mind.”
At a news conference on Sunday, officials said Lee Yi-hsiang may have hidden part of his story when he applied for manager of the project site.
Su Chih-wu, the site ‘s quality control engineer, said by phone that the workers are nearing completion of the project, which aims to reinforce the structure of a train tunnel parallel to the site where the accident occurred.
He also said that there should be no workers at the site on Friday, as it was the first day of an extended holiday. It was not clear on Sunday whether Lee Yi-hsiang or anyone else had been at the scene that day.
Another engineer on the project, Yang Chin-lang, rejected the idea that his team failed to guarantee an adequate level of security. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said over the phone. Both Yang and Su said they were interviewed by prosecutors on Saturday.
“I just followed the project’s plans and did my job,” added Mr. Yang.
The accident occurred near the Qingshui cliff, an area where mountains rise dramatically from the Pacific Ocean. Experts say the difficult terrain has long been a challenge for transport engineers, and many accidents have happened on the winding road over the years. But rail and road routes are an essential link between Taipei, the capital, and the east coast.
Feng Hui Sheng, deputy director of the Taiwan Railway Administration, said in an interview on Sunday that the agency has made continuous safety improvements to its systems and equipment since the 2018 accident.
He said these changes will continue and that authorities will also seek to improve the network’s signal and alarm systems and increase road safety. But he also acknowledged that broader changes can happen slowly.
“When it comes to innovation and system reform,” he added, “we are more conservative.”
Joy Dong reported from Hong Kong.