Taiwan's prosecutors have appealed for information on the construction site near Friday's deadly train crash as photos emerged showing the main suspect arrested in connection with the accident looking on as victims scrambled to safety from a tunnel.
The suspect apparently knew by then that a truck he owned had caused the tragedy.
Over the weekend, survivors of the 408 Taroko Express accident in Hualien released photos of Mr Lee Yi-hsiang standing near the wrecked train as paramedics and firefighters struggled to help survivors.
The photos triggered outrage among the families of victims and the public.
Mr Lee, in the meantime, was re-arrested and hauled back to the Hualien District Court after a judge on Sunday ruled in favour of the prosecution's appeal against his NT$500,000 (S$23,550) bail, deeming him a flight risk. The court ruled that he be held for two months as the authorities also worked to seize his assets.
In 2019, Mr Lee, a 49 year-old construction company owner, was appointed the construction director of the "Six-year Railway Safety Improvement Project" on a site located just 20m above where the train crash occurred.
Aside from being the site manager, he is also owner of one of the contractors involved in the project, which is a violation of Taiwan's Construction Industry Act.
The Taiwan Railways Administration, which commissioned the project, missed the fact that Mr Lee was holding two posts, one of which went against the law.
The "Six-year Railway Safety Improvement Project" was meant to prevent rocks on nearby mountains from falling onto the train tracks.
Mr Lee has run afoul of the law previously.
In 2015, the experienced contractor was charged with corruption after the authorities discovered a doctored photo of a bridge pier project that he was in charge of. He had instructed an employee to digitally edit the photo, allegedly to show more progress in the construction than actually completed.
Over the weekend, survivors who were located in the last train carriage, which suffered the least impact from the crash, sent photos they took to the Apple Daily newspaper.
The photos showed Mr Lee standing a few metres away on a hill, looking down at the train, with a few other men in blue shirts standing next to him.
Dashcam footage from ambulances parked in front of the construction site also showed Mr Lee on his phone and walking around, later chatting and sharing betel nut with a fellow construction worker while survivors and paramedics rushed past them.
The images contradicted Mr Lee's claims of being the only person at the site on Friday morning. "I went to check on the construction alone," he told the police on Friday.
Hualien's head prosecutor Yu Hsiu-duan said yesterday that Mr Lee was not being truthful.
"Prosecution now have evidence that Lee Yi-hsiang wasn't alone (at the construction site) when the crash happened, but we're still trying to determine who these blue-clad men are," said Ms Yu at the Hualien Funeral Home.
Later, in the evening, Ms Yu told reporters that prosecutors had subpoenaed at least 10 people who might have been present at the construction site at the time of the crash or who could be related to the case.
Ms Yu also held up a sign to reporters with instructions on how witnesses could contact the Hualien Prosecutors Office, either by phone or through messaging apps.
Emergency personnel have extricated the remains of the last passenger trapped under the wreckage of the island's worst rail accident in seven decades. The government also said five of the eight train carriages of the Taroko Express have now been removed, with the other three expected to be extracted by today.
Fifty people are confirmed dead after the packed express train carrying almost 500 passengers and crew slammed into the truck near the eastern city of Hualien, causing it to derail and the front end to crumple.
Local media reported yesterday that Taiwan's top government officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen, will donate one month's salary to the victims of the crash.
