28 feared dead in Taiwan bus crash: fire department

TAIWAN: A bus in Taiwan reported to have been taking local tourists home from visiting seasonal cherry blossoms veered off a highway Monday night with 28 feared dead, the national fire department said.

Local media said the passengers had been returning from a trip to a farm in central Taichung when the bus came off the road in eastern Taipei.

The national fire department said 28 victims “showed no signs of life” and 16 were being treated in hospital.

The bus was left flipped over on the side of the road. Victims were laid out at the scene covered in white cloths, an AFP reporter at the crash site said.

Television reports said that most of the passengers on the bus were elderly.

It comes after another bus crash outside Taipei in July last year killed 25 Chinese tourists on board.

Investigators said the driver of that bus intentionally set fire to it in a suicide bid before it careered into a crash barrier.