9 mainland tourists hospitalized, dozens injured in Taiwan bus accident

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A tour bus carrying 25 tourists from the Chinese mainland has hit a bridge in the city of Kaohsiung, south of Taiwan, severely wounding some passengers and prompting a call from authorities in Beijing for more security measures.

The accident is the latest of a series of road accidents involving visitors from the Chinese mainland in the island.

In July 2016, a horrific murder-suicide rocked the country after a driver set his moving coach on fire charring 24 tourists from the Chinese mainland to death as they were heading to Taoyuan airport, north of the island.

The scene of the accident where a tour bus crashed into a bridge on Saturday February 4, 2017 injuring 21 tourists from the Chinese mainland south of Taiwan. /Twitter

Twenty-one of the 28 people on board the bus were injured in Saturday’s accident, three of them seriously.

The tourists came from east China’s Zhejiang Province, and were on a six-day trip around the island. Eight children were part of the group.

Nine of the travelers were hospitalized, along with the local driver and tour guide.

China's National Tourism Bureau said in a statement posted online that it is paying close attention to the incident.

The statement also noted that the head of the bureau Li Jinzao has dispatched officials working in the Kaohsiung office to check the scene of the accident and visit those injured in the hospital.

The bureau has called for greater security safeguards for mainland tourists in Taiwan, the statement noted.

Tourism authorities in Taiwan said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

A string of accidents including visitors from the Chinese mainland has dealt a blow to the island’s tourism industry, which is now witnessing a dwindling number of travelers.

According to data released by officials in Taiwan in January, visitors from the Chinese mainland dropped by over 20 percent in 2016 on annual basis.

The figure is echoed by Hamburg-based China Outbound Tourism Research Institute.

Some 3.5 million travelers from the Chinese mainland visited the island in 2016 – a 16 percent slump year on year.

The figures dropped dramatically as the year progressed, with the last quarter seeing 40 percent fewer visitors compared to the same period a year before.

Local media have quoted the driver as saying he was neither too tired nor under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. He reportedly said he was talking to the tour guide, a claim the tour guy has denied.

A bus crashed near Taoyuan International Airport killed 24 tourists from the Chinese maniland on board in July 2016. /Twitter