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32 killed in Taiwan tour bus accident

13 February 2017 18:02 (UTC +04:00)

A tour bus with 44 local people aboard flipped over the guardrail on Highway 5 in New Taipei City around 9 p.m. Monday. 32 people are reported killed and 12 injured, according to the National Fire Agency, APA reports quoting Taiwan News.

The one-day tour group of local elderly people set off from Taipei on Monday morning for a daytrip to Wuling Farm to see cherry blossom, reported the Chinese-language Apple Daily. The accident was reportedly attributed to overspeed and fatigued driving while the driver attempted to make a turn to get to the Highway 3 from 5.

At least 30 people were pronounced dead at the scene, and another two were declared dead at Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital.

The one-day trip is organized by a Taipei-based Butterflies Love Flowers Travel Agency, which appeared in the newspaper last year as one of its tour buses packed with 30 locals was hit by a falling boulder while traveling across the Central Cross-Island Highway, leaving one dead and three injured.