Premier Lin Chuan has called on the government to do all it can to ensure transport safety following the deaths of 26 people in a tour bus fire. Lin was speaking during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
A fire on a tour bus on Tuesday killed 24 Chinese tourists along with their local driver and tour guide. There were no survivors. During Thursday’s meeting, Lin and the Cabinet observed a minute of silence for the victims.
Lin said that as the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan rose, local travel agencies began neglecting the quality of their services, leading to accidents. Lin urged the government to find ways of preventing further accidents.
"This includes looking at how tour buses are to be managed, whether bus drivers are overworked, and if the overall quality of tourist travel is being marred by competitiveness through monopolies or other practices. We need to investigate these problems. At the same time, we need to know how we’re going to improve the situation after a thorough review of past traffic accidents related to tourism," said Lin.
At the meeting, Lin also asked the government to look into dangerous cost-cutting by operators of cheap package tours for Chinese tourists.