Thu, June 14, 2012
TAIPEI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- An express train carrying about 250 passengers derailed in east Taiwan's Taitung county on Thursday due to rain-triggered mudslides, according to the island's railway authorities.
Two of the train's carriages were derailed at 2:27 p.m after a landslide covered parts of the track in rubble, railway authorities said in a statement.
The train was bound for Hualien in east Taiwan from the southern city of Kaohsiung.
Passengers on the derailed carriages were transferred to the train's remaining carriages, which were then sent back to a train station, where the passengers took buses to their desired destinations.
No casualties have been reported.
Railway authorities said traffic will resume on the tracks by midnight.
Heavy rains that have hit the island since Sunday have triggered multiple floods and mudslides, hitting the southern and central regions of the island the hardest.
Rain-triggered disasters have killed six people, forced the evacuation of more than 7,600 others and caused direct economic losses of about 382 million new Taiwanese dollars (12.7 million U.S. dollars), according to the latest statistics.
Most parts of Taiwan are expected to see showers or heavy rains on Friday, according to local weather forecasts.
