Flags in Taiwan will be lowered to half-mast for three days, starting today, to mourn the people who were killed when an express train derailed in a tunnel yesterday morning after hitting a truck that had slid down a bank onto the track.
At least 50 on board the train were killed - the youngest was six years old - and more than 140 injured in the island's worst rail disaster.
The 408 Taroko Express, carrying four crew members and 492 passengers, was travelling from Taipei to Taitung, where most of its passengers hail from. Many were heading home at the start of the Qing Ming Festival to tend to family graves. One French citizen was among the dead, officials said.
The eight-carriage train derailed just after entering a tunnel in Hualien County, north of Hualien city. The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said the train hit a construction vehicle that had slipped onto the tracks at the tunnel's mouth.
Yesterday's accident was the deadliest railway accident in Taiwan since the TRA introduced the Tze-chiang limited express, its fastest train category, in 1978. The Taroko Express is a newer model of the Tze-chiang trains.
The crash left four carriages a twisted wreck.
According to the National Fire Agency, some passengers' bodies were not in one piece when the rescuers arrived, which caused confusion when updating the death toll.
The train's operator Yuan Chun-hsiu was also pronounced dead. The 33-year-old Taichung native's death left his family and colleagues in shock.
"I hope he didn't suffer any pain," said his mother to Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, who visited the Yuan family after the news of the operator's death.
Mr Yuan, the youngest child of the family, is survived by his mother, three sisters and wife.
The TRA has organised an emergency response team to handle the accident.
The driver of the truck has been taken to a Hualien police station for questioning, said Hualien County Police Bureau chief Tsai Ting-hsien yesterday afternoon.
The truck's handbrake was allegedly not engaged properly, the authorities said. The TRA is planning to demand compensation from the company that owns the truck.
"Who knew the truck would just slide down to the tracks 28 minutes later?" said an employee surnamed Chang.
Though allegedly caused by the truck, yesterday's crash has sparked anew longstanding questions about rail safety in Taiwan.
Upon seeing the twisted train in the tunnel, a Red Cross rescuer leading a team of 11 rescuers described the site as a "living hell".
All survivors were helped out of the wreckage before 7pm.
President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to visit the injured in Hualien's hospitals this morning, and has expressed her sorrow over the loss of so many people.
China's Cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office sent its condolences yesterday evening.
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