2024-04-06 10:14:38
Rescue teams managed to rescue nine people trapped in a tunnel in Taiwan this Friday and are still searching for 18 missing people, after the biggest earthquake to hit the island in 25 years.
Taiwan’s disaster management agency said the nine tourists were saved at a pass located in a popular gorge called the Nine Towers Tunnel in the east of the island.
This Friday, the agency maintained the balance at ten deaths and 1,106 injured, despite announcing that two victims were found without “any sign of life” in the mountainous region of Hualien, close to the epicenter of the earthquake.
“Currently, the two people detected at the site cannot be identified because they are buried very deep,” said the agency, adding that checks will still need to be carried out before adding them to the official balance sheet.
The agency said emergency services have already managed to locate more than 700 people who remain trapped in tunnels or isolated areas of Hualien, but that 18 people are still missing.
Among the missing are three adults and three children who were walking a trail in Taroko National Park, one of Taiwan’s main tourist attractions and where most of the hundreds of people trapped by the earthquake are located.
A group of more than 50 people went to the trail this morning with special tools to excavate and carry out rescue work.
In addition to small groups on foot with dogs, emergency services deployed helicopters and drones to reach people stranded in the mountains, where roads were blocked by landslides and rockfalls.
Food delivery
Rescue teams are also using helicopters to deliver food to many residents who were isolated by Wednesday’s earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.4 according to the United States Geological Survey.
In the city of Hualien, authorities began demolition work with a crane on the “Urano” building, which tilted 45 degrees after half of the first floor collapsed due to the earthquake.
Six miners rescued from quarry in Taiwan after earthquake
Many Hualien residents spent the night in the open, after fleeing apartments still shaken by numerous aftershocks, while major works were underway to repair the roads.
The island has been shaken by hundreds of strong aftershocks since the first earthquake and the Government has warned residents to be careful of landslides or falling rocks.
Strict construction regulations and widespread public awareness of disasters appear to have prevented a major disaster on the island, according to the France-Presse news agency.
Wednesday’s quake was the strongest in Taiwan since September 21, 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed more than 2,400 people and injured more than 11,300.
2024-04-06 10:14:38