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After nearly two months of investigation, the Taiwan tour bus burning incident came to an official conclusion on September 10: the tour bus driver drove drunk, poured gasoline, set fire to suicide, and burned all the tourists and tour guides on the bus to death. This was an outcome that even the most malicious speculations at the time of the incident did not expect. The incident was upgraded from a "traffic accident" to a "premeditated murder." Moreover, this was the most serious accident involving a tour bus involving mainland tourists since the opening of mainland tourist attractions in 2008. . The following is every bit of the "Burning Car Incident" recorded by Zhong Qin, a reporter from Southeast TV in Taiwan who witnessed the incident from beginning to end.
In September, my first round of residency in Taiwan is finally coming to an end. One day, several colleagues stationed in Taiwan were talking about the recent sharp decline in mainland tourists visiting Taiwan, and that tourism operators were going to take to the streets to demonstrate. Someone suddenly asked: When will the investigation results for the Liaoning tour bus burning incident in July be announced? Will it come out? "It's probably out of the question," everyone thought silently.
September 10, 2016
saw this After the news, mainland reporters in Taiwan began to contact the Taoyuan prosecutors through various channels. Finally, at noon on September 10, they received a confirmation notice that the Taoyuan prosecutors would hold a press conference at 4 p.m. to announce the investigation results.
When we arrived at the press conference, we unexpectedly found that the text press box at the site was not full, and there were plenty of camera seats. We originally planned to go to the booth battle (this is what I learned during my stay in Taiwan). One of the skills) was not performed, because almost no Taiwanese media reporters were present!
At the press conference, Taoyuan prosecutors prepared a detailed report. The conclusions contained in it were almost completely consistent with previous reports from Taiwanese media: the tour bus driver drove drunk, poured gasoline, set fire to suicide, and burned all the tourists in the bus to death. Tourist guide. At the moment, I feel a sense of deja vu, because this pattern of "the prosecutor does not confirm, the media tells the story first" has been repeated many times since the burning car accident. At the press conference, the Taoyuan prosecutors gave a thorough explanation of the results, detailing the results, but I was thinking, this incident has been upgraded from a "traffic accident" to a "premeditated murder". Who will cause the greatest harm?
July 19, 2016
Time goes back to July 19. At noon that day, a burning car accident occurred on Taiwan’s Highway 2. Many TV stations in Taiwan quickly cut into the live broadcast. The burning tour bus on the screen made people watch. Shocking.
Is there anyone in the car? how many people? Can it be rescued? Soon, some fragments of information popped up one after another: There were mainland tourists in the car! There are 26 people in total, a group of mainland tourists from Liaoning! The fire is not out yet! Taiwan's "Executive Yuan" has set up a response center and will hold a press conference in the afternoon to explain! ...
At the first press conference, the Taiwan authorities confirmed that there were no survivors at the scene! In the face of such a major disaster, although officials from both sides of the Taiwan Strait had suspended exchanges after May 20 due to well-known reasons, the mainland quickly established a working group, led by Liu Kezhi, secretary-general of the Overseas Tourism Association, to go to Taiwan to assist the family members in handling the aftermath.
On the morning of July 21, 2016
21, Liu Kezhi and his party went to the Zhongli funeral home to offer condolences to the victims. They also expressed strong dissatisfaction with Taiwan and requested the Taiwan authorities to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and meet the requirements of the families.
In the evening, 70 people, including family members of the deceased mainland tourists, arrived at the Zhongli Funeral Home. The moment they saw the portraits of their loved ones, the family members broke down emotionally and shed tears in the mourning hall.Taiwan has held multiple family briefings, which were not open to the media at first. However, during the second briefing, the family members strongly requested the media to enter. They questioned: There were more than 20 people in the car, why didn't anyone escape? There is a tourist who has ten years of firefighting experience. Why can’t he escape?
Subsequently, Taoyuan prosecutors began to investigate. He Chendan, director of Taiwan's transportation department, who was under the spotlight due to road tolls and Taoyuan machine flooding incidents, conducted a major inspection of the safety of tour buses in Taiwan. All of a sudden, the Taiwanese media began to cover the whole story, and the TV political commentary program was open for several days in a row, but all kinds of "weird" remarks also appeared, such as: html NT$38,000 to travel around Taiwan, joking (pointing to the "" of mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan" "Cheap group", "one-stop service"); the security door is not open because mainlanders don't know how to use it...
Seeing these comments makes me in Taiwan extremely sad and angry. Not only that, after offering condolences at Zhongli Funeral Home, Lin Quan, the head of Taiwan's administrative agency, emphasized in his review: "Because the number of mainland tourists coming to Taiwan has increased, many accidents have been caused by travel operators neglecting quality for the sake of momentum. This The matter must be thoroughly reviewed." As soon as Lin Quan said this, even the Taiwanese media couldn't stand it and criticized the Tsai administration for trying to shift the responsibility to the "previous administration." The investigation of the accident is progressing slowly, and the family members are anxious, but "people are under the roof" and all procedures must comply with Taiwan's regulations. The family members proposed that mainland investigation forces join in and conduct a joint cross-strait investigation, but the Taiwan authorities refused.
When Taoyuan prosecutors announced that they had found five bottles of gasoline in the car, the outside world began to wonder whether it was still an accident. However, the prosecutor's investigation was later silenced again, with the sentence "the investigation is not open to the public", leaving the outside world with no way to grasp the real situation. At the same time, the procedures arranged by Taiwan for family identification, on-site soul calling, and public memorial ceremony for mainland passengers were carried out one by one. In the end, except for one mainland guest family member, all mainland guest family members signed the settlement agreement and took the ashes of their loved ones with them. Leave the stage.
On the day of the
public memorial ceremony on July 25, 2016, Ma Ying-jeou came, but Tsai Ing-wen did not come, and Lin Quan did not come. There was not even a flower basket or elegiac couplet. He was criticized by public opinion on the island for not understanding the principles of life. A few days later, two deceased Taiwanese citizens held a public memorial ceremony. Tsai Ing-wen sent an elegiac couplet from "Exemplary Chang Zhao" and explained: If the family comes to ask for it, just give it to them. At this point, I finally realized how sincere the Tsai administration was behind the "distress" and "regret" over the entire incident.
(Picture: Zhong Qin and other mainland journalists in Taiwan pay homage to the victims)
Now, nearly two months after the incident, Taoyuan prosecutors finally closed the entire case. What was originally thought to be a "traffic accident" has turned into a "traffic accident" Premeditated murder." Regarding this investigation report, only the wife of the tour guide who made the complaint at the time has the right to raise objections. She can apply to Taiwan's "High Court" for reconsideration and request the prosecutor to re-investigate. But the families of mainland tourists no longer have this right. Why? The Taoyuan prosecutor’s statement is that the family members of the mainland tourists were so emotional at the time that the prosecutors were unable to communicate with them about the “complaint” part. , has no right to object to the Taoyuan prosecutor’s investigation report. The prosecutor's statement was rigorous, his attitude was sincere, and his regrets were fully expressed, but I couldn't understand the conclusion that day.
Taoyuan prosecutors said: "Everyone has his own way to go, whether life or death, and we can only pity." This "compassion", with its warm humanitarian concern, even transcends life and death. I just want to ask, for those family members in Liaoning who have lost their loved ones, how can they pity this "conscientious person" in Taiwan? , "Dehumanizing" tour bus driver Su Mingcheng? How can they accept that they lose the right to question the prosecutor's investigation results because they are "too emotional to communicate"? Now, Taiwan has cut off all possibilities. As long as the tour guide's wife does not appeal, then this conclusion will be the final result, and the families of the mainland tourists can only file claims for the civil part.The incident has now been settled, but I always think of the days I spent at the Taoyuan Funeral Home conducting interviews. I could feel the attentiveness and meticulousness of the on-site staff. The companionship and care given to the family members by Tzu Chi and other non-governmental teams were also very heart-warming. People in the tourism industry, including those in the tourism industry, have told us on various occasions that we, the people, are really trying our best, but there is nothing they can do about those above them.
Yes, after all, in the eyes of those people, "mainland compatriots" are now just "mainland friends"! For compatriots, it is a painful experience, but for friends, it is better to show mercy.
