TAIPEI: Rail, airport and port security has been stepped up across Taiwan after at least 24 people were injured in an explosion on a commuter train Thursday night (Jul 7).
The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said on its Facebook page that Taiwan's Transport Ministry has instructed agencies in charge of rail, airport and port security to be more vigilant, and asked police to assist with strengthening security at train stations.
A Cabinet spokeswoman said Premier Lin Chuan has asked relevant government agencies to form an ad hoc team to investigate, according to local media reports. "It looks like somebody did this with a malicious intent and we will fully investigate this case," said the island's premier.
"I want to tell the public to rest assured as we have heightened the alert for the security of public areas and transport systems," premier Lin told reporters after he had visited the injured in hospital.
According to the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), the train was at Songshan Railway Station when an explosion was heard from the sixth carriage at about 10pm local time. It subsequently burst into flames.
The cause of the blast and the fire is not yet known, according to TRA.
TRA director Chou Yung-hui told local media that the cause of the blast is under investigation, and that equipment failure has been ruled out.
TRA added that the fire has since been put out. It is also trying to determine the number of passengers who were rescued and evacuated from the scene. Among the injured, 21 have been taken to various local hospitals, TRA said in an update on Facebook. Three sought medical attention on their own, according to a report by Taiwan's Central News Agency.
According to Central News Agency, National Police Agency director-general Chen Kuo-en said police found explosives measuring 15cm to 20cm on the seat of the carriage. He added that police found an object resembling a firecracker and have taken it for investigations.
The report also said eyewitnesses saw a man in his 40s leaving a "long" object in the carriage before he exited. According to the Central News Agency report, other passengers also said they saw a man leave a black luggage bag in the carriage before the blast.
Police were reviewing surveillance footage to try and identify the man, but also said that they had not received any threats prior to the incident. A police probe is underway.
Television footage showed emergency workers treating injured passengers outside the train station, most of them suffering from burns.
"There was a blast and the carriage went dark. People were panicking and screaming," one passenger told a local news channel. "I saw fire from the lights and I heard a sound and my hair was on fire," another woman said.
Images from inside the train carriage showed shattered glass on the floor and part of a side wall blackened by flames.
In 2014 a college student killed four people in a stabbing sprees on the Taipei metro, shocking the island and prompting a security overhaul of the city's public transport systems.
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