Helicopter rescues Taiwan miners as earthquake injuries cross 1,000
Send a link to a friend
[April 04, 2024]
By Yimou Lee and Fabian Hamacher
HUALIEN, Taiwan (Reuters) -A helicopter plucked to safety on Thursday
six people stranded in a mining area after Taiwan's worst earthquake in
25 years, while hundreds of aftershocks rocking the eastern region near
its epicentre drove scores more to seek shelter outdoors.
The death toll from Wednesday's 7.2-magnitude quake rose to 10, with the
tally of injured at 1,067, authorities said, while most of the roughly
50 hotel workers marooned on a highway as they headed to a resort in a
national park were located.
But 660 people were still trapped, most of them in hotels in the park,
after the road was cut off, the fire department said, as the discovery
of a dead body on a hiking trail near the entrance to a gorge took the
total deaths to ten.
A helicopter ferried to safety six miners trapped on a cliff in a
dramatic rescue after the quake cut off the roads into Hualien's soaring
mountains, in footage shown by the department.
The agriculture ministry urged people to keep away from the mountains
because of the risk of falling rocks and the formation of "barrier
lakes" as water pools behind unstable debris.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/04/images/ads/current/chicagost_sda_SFARM_2024.png)
Thursday was the start of a long-weekend holiday for the tomb-sweeping
festival, when families traditionally return home to attend to ancestral
graves, though others will also visit tourist attractions.
People in largely rural and sparsely populated Hualien county were
readying to go to work and school when the earthquake struck offshore on
Wednesday.
Buildings also shuddered violently in Taipei, but the capital suffered
minimal damage and disruption.
All those trapped in buildings in the worst-hit city of Hualien have
been rescued, but many residents unnerved by more than 300 aftershocks
spent the night outdoors.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/040424PIX/news_o29.jpg)
A rescue helicopter flies past the area of a landslide, following
the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone
Siu
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/04/images/ads/current/ldn_lda_BUSDIRCOVER_2024.png)
"The aftershocks were terrifying," said Yu, a 52-year-old woman, who
gave only her family name. "It's non-stop. I do not dare to sleep in
the house."
Too scared to return to her apartment, which she described as being
in a "mess", she slept in a tent on a sports ground being used for
temporary shelter.
Dozens of residents queued outside one badly damaged 10-storey
building, waiting to go in and retrieve belongings.
Clad in helmets and accompanied by government personnel, each was
given 10 minutes to collect valuables in huge garbage bags, though
some saved time by throwing items out of windows into the street
below.
"This building is no longer liveable," said Tian Liang-si, who lived
on the fifth floor, as she scrambled to gather her laptop, family
photographs and other crucial items.
She recalled the moment the quake struck, sending the building
lurching and furniture sliding, while she rushed to save the four
puppies she keeps as pets.
"I'm a Hualien native," she told Reuters. "I'm not supposed to fear
earthquakes. But this is an earthquake that frightened us."
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Fabian Hamacher; Writing by Ben
Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/04/images/ads/current/hartsburggrain_sda_SFARM_2024.png) |