Three members of a tank crew have died and the condition of another remains uncertain after their tank toppled into a river on Tuesday.
The incident occurred after the five-man crew had conducted a live fire exercise in southern Taiwan and were on their way back to base. The tank apparently got stuck before falling into the Wangsha river, trapping four of the crew inside. Only the driver was able to escape the vehicle. Huang Chung-shih, head of the Army’s 564 Brigade, gave an initial report:
“The driver said that it felt like the tank got stuck as it was coming down a slope. He wanted to turn left but was unable to do so and the vehicle fell over into the river,"said Huang.
"We won’t know the details until we are able to raise the tank up and give a fuller report, at the moment we are going from what the driver has told us.”
The incident occurred at shortly after 10 am. It was not until 11:30 that rescue teams were able to get to the trapped crew members. Three were pronounced dead. The other was able to be revived but his prognosis is as yet uncertain.