More than 600 people still stranded in Taiwan, 3 days after earthquake that killed at least 12
Taipei (AP/PTI): Rescuers were planning to bring in heavy equipment on Saturday to try to recover two bodies buried under boulders on a hiking trail, three days after Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years.
Four more people remain missing on the same Shakadang Trail in Taroko National Park, famed for its rugged mountainous terrain. Search and recovery work was set to resume, after being called off Friday afternoon because of aftershocks.
At least 12 people were killed by the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck Wednesday morning off Taiwan's east coast, and 10 others were still missing.
More than 600 people, including about 450 at a hotel in the Taroko park, remained stranded in various locations cut off by rockslides and other damage.
Survivors have told harrowing tales of rocks tumbling onto roadways, trapping them in tunnels until rescuers arrived to free them. In the city of Hualien, a building left tilting over a street at a precarious angle was being carefully torn down.
The relatively low number of deaths from such a powerful quake has been attributed to strict construction standards and widespread public education campaigns on the earthquake-prone island.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck in 1999 killed 2,400 people.
The two dead and four missing on Shakadang Trail include a family of five. The trapped bodies found on Friday were a man and a woman, but they have not been identified, according to Taiwanese media reports.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Assam: Four dead in bus accident, 10 injured
Diphu (Assam) (PTI): At least four persons were killed and 10 others injured on Saturday when the bus in which they were travelling lost control and hit a roadside tree in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, officials said.
According to a senior official, the incident took place at Lakkhijan within Bokajan police station limits early morning when the bus was going to Dimapur in Nagaland from Moirabari in Morigaon district of central Assam.
"The bus apparently lost control when it was trying to cross a bend and hit a roadside tree. Four passengers lost their lives on the spot, including the driver," he added.
Police have reached the spot and sent the bodies for post-mortem examination.
"We have also sent 10 people, including a child, for treatment to a hospital in Dimapur," the official said.
The deceased have been identified as Abdul Barek, Khalil Rahman, Chabina Sultana and Alal Uddin.
