Steel beam falls, killing 4 in central Taiwan

A steel beam fell from a crane at a Mass Rapid Transit system construction site in central Taiwan's Taichung city on Friday afternoon, killing four people and injuring four others, the city government said.

Three construction workers and a female driver were killed after a 43-meter-long, 209-metric ton steel girder fell from a height of about three stories high onto busy roads, vice mayor Chang Kuang-yao said.

The workers were operating to put the steel beam onto the concrete pillars when the girder slipped and fell, according to eyewitnesses.

One of the hospitalized workers was in critical condition and the other injured workers suffered fractures, brain bleeding, dislocation and injury in their lung tissues, doctors said.

The fallen steel beam carried by the crane hit at least four vehicles at the intersection of Wenxin Road and Beitun Road in downtown Taichung during the early evening rush hour.

"It was too frightening," said a driver surnamed Kuo who barely escaped the falling girder. "I saw in my car the steel beam was shaking badly up there before it fell. So I swerved my car and rammed into a house on the roadside."

Other witnesses living near the site said they heard a great bang outside then came out to find the unbelievable scene.

Chu Jin-lung, a labor official who arrived at the scene, said it was improper for construction to operate during rush hour.

Chu said authorities have ordered the construction unit to suspend operation at the section as they have found flaws in the construction unit.

An initial investigation suggests the crane was overloaded and there was negligence when hoisting the girder onto the MRT system's support pillars.

The crane used to hoist the girder reportedly has a maximum lifting capacity of only 200 metric tons, according to rescuers.

Meanwhile the base of the crane may have failed to provide adequate support and unevenly distributed the load, causing the crane to become unstable during its operation.

Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung demanded in January this year that the MRT Green Line, which was the line under construction, be completed two years ahead of schedule for a trial run in 2018, citing reasons that the new plan had gone through a thorough evaluation and was feasible.

Lin even said at that time the schedule could even be moved up another six months if things went smoothly.

The elevated Green Line, which runs from Wuri to Beitun, is designed to be a 16.7-kilometer line with 18 stations.