After four months of investigation, Taiwan's Transportation Safety Board has released its findings regarding the fatal train accident in Taroko Park.
Board member Li Kang says that there is no aerial footage that shows the crash. Instead, the board has created a simulation to reenact the scene.
The construction truck slid down the slope at 9:27am and the train emerged from the nearby tunnel at 9:28am. A construction worker on the side of the road waved his hands wildly to warn the conductor. Passengers say they heard the driver set off his own warning whistle, but it was too late. The train hit the fallen truck less than seven seconds after emerging from the dark tunnel.
Kang says the report shows that the driver hit the brakes before the crash, but it wasn't enough. His reaction was also delayed because his vision was blocked by the blinding sunlight at the tunnel exit and a curve in the tracks.
Kang says the accident was mostly a result of bad luck, including the fact that the train was running six minutes late. There's a record of the truck's construction company, Dong Shin, recommending installing a guardrail at the location, but they received no response from railway administration.
The safety board says that 49 people on the train died. That's 9.8% of everyone on board. Two hundred and thirteen passengers, or 42.8%, were injured. Eighty-two percent of the deaths were passengers sitting from the fifth to eighth car. Thirty passengers who died had standing-only tickets. This terrible accident goes to show that when it comes to transportation safety, there's no room for error.