Taipei, March 02: The conductor of a train that ran off a bridge near one of Taiwan's most popular mountain resorts killing 17 people has been arrested and could be charged with manslaughter, court officials said today. Investigators suspect that the brakes of the four-car train failed as it was descending ali mountain in Central Taiwan with 190 passengers on board Saturday. Some 102 people were injured.
Today, train conductor Su in-Fu was detained briefly then granted bail of 100,000 new Taiwan Dollars (USD2,870), while the prosecutor prepares charges of manslaughter and endangering public security against him, the Chiayi district court in central Taiwan said in a statement.

The charges would be formally filed after investigations are complete.

The train driver, Tsai cheng-Sen, was also detained briefly by police but then freed.

It was not immediately clear what how the two men may have been to blame for the crash.

Luo jian-Hsun, chief prosecutor in the central county of Chiayi, visited the crash scene today and said that he would investigate to determine if there had been human error in maintenance of the brakes.

A preliminary probe did not find problems with the railline, nor was the train overloaded, Luo told reporters.

Some of the passengers said yesterday the train was spreading down the mountain like a roller coaster and they had feared that a crash was imminent.
Bureau Report