on its side.
Of 44 people on the
bus, 30 were pronounced dead at the scene and two died in hospital, the fire
department said, adding that 12 people were still being treated in hospitals
around Taipei, the capital.
Many of the
passengers were elderly, although the age range was early 20s to late 60s,
according to city authorities.
The trip had been
arranged by the Tieh Lien Hua Travel Agency, according to Taiwan's tourism
bureau.
An official with the
agency said the tourists were "likely" all from Taiwan, but that it
was still looking at passenger information.
"We are making
efforts to help with the emergency response and will fully cooperate,"
Chou Chi-hung told Reuters by telephone.
It was unclear what
caused the crash. Local television showed a video of the bus shot from behind
flipping onto its side and skidding toward the hillside after it hit a road
barrier when negotiating a highway interchange curve.
Ambulances and fire
trucks were lined up along the bend of the road as rescue workers used a crane
to lift the battered bus from its wheels, after all the passengers were pulled
from the wreckage.
"Prosecutors
need to get on the site," said cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung on live TV.
The crash is the
latest accident involving tour buses in Taiwan. Earlier this month, another
Taiwanese tour bus carrying Chinese tourists crashed into a bridge in southern
Taiwan, injuring some passengers.
It followed a grisly
murder-suicide last year in which 24 Chinese tourists were killed after the
driver set their moving bus on fire.
* Reuters*
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