Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday released on bail four people who had been held for questioning after an electricity tower was on Friday hit by a silo that was being torn down, causing a power cut and disrupted train services that affected more than 126,000 passengers.
The owner of Chiung Te Construction, surnamed Lee (李), whose company conducted the demolition of the silo at a Southeast Cement Corp plant in Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓), and a Chiung Te manager surnamed Weng (翁) were each released on NT$1 million (US$34,837) bail, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said.
A Chiung Te executive surnamed Lin (林), who was in charge of occupational safety at the site, was released on NT$300,000 bail, and a man surnamed Yeh (葉), who is Chiung Te’s subcontractor for the project, was released on NT$600,000 bail, the office said.
Photo courtesy of a reader via CNA
All four were taken in for questioning on Saturday.
The office said the four might have failed to follow the required three-stage demolition plan and instead “arbitrarily” instructed a crane operator to knock down the 52m silo with a wrecking ball.
No appropriate safety measures were in place, the office added.
As a result, the silo fell to the wrong side, hitting the transmission tower, it said.
The collapse of the tower cut electricity to trains operated by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), causing the suspension of services for up to seven hours, which affected 79 high-speed and 30 TRA trains, as well as more than 126,000 passengers.
Prosecutors said the four are suspected of contravening construction regulations stipulated in the Criminal Code, but added that there is no need to detain them during the investigation.
State-run utility Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and the Tainan and Kaohsiung city governments have vowed to seek compensation for the costs of the power outage.
Chiung Te has been fined for two demolition site incidents in the past two — one involving a worker who sustained severe injuries in 2019 and one involving the death of a worker in November last year.
Both accidents were allegedly caused by insufficient safety precautions at the sites.
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