The commander of the Army tank that overturned into a river earlier this week has died. That brings the death toll from the accident to four.
Wu De-wei died of multiple organ failure on Thursday evening, two days after he was pulled from the submerged tank on Tuesday. Three other members of the tank crew, Chen Shih-kun, Chen Ping-yi and Chang Chih-wei, died at the scene of the accident.
The only survivor of the tank’s five-man crew was the driver, Yang Yen-lin. Yang is now being questioned over whether he bears responsibility for the deaths of his fellow crew members.
The tank plunged off a bridge into a river as it was returning from a drill in the southern county of Pingtung on Tuesday. Yang has told prosecutors that the tank’s brakes malfunctioned as it was coming down an incline. The tank overturned into the river. Yang escaped with minor scratches but the other four crew members were trapped inside the compartment and could not be reached by rescuers for over an hour.