Singapore family involved in car crash on Taiwan highway, wife dies
A woman from a Singapore family of three died following a car crash in Taiwan on Dec 14.
The accident took place at around 2pm on Provincial Highway No. 3 in Miaoli County’s Shihtan Township, reported The Taiwan Times.
The 33-year-old woman and her daughter had been travelling in a rented car driven by her 36-year-old Singaporean husband when the vehicle crashed into an electricity pole.
The family was reportedly on a self-guided trip in Taiwan.
Some Taiwanese media identified the woman as Singaporean, while others reported that she is a Chinese national.
Her daughter is three years old, according to most reports.
In a video published by Taiwanese broadcast channel TVBS, a white sedan is seen veering left and crashing into an electricity pole instead of navigating a right hand curve on the highway.
Upon impact, the rear of the car lifts off the ground, while the electricity pole snaps and collapses onto the road. The front of the car is badly damaged, and its windscreen is cracked.
According to news outlet Focus Taiwan, the accident happened around the 114km mark on the highway, where first responders found the car jammed between the pole and a roadside wall.
The man and the child managed to escape from the car with minor injuries before help arrived, but the woman was trapped in the rear seat, the report said, citing local police.
A spokesperson for the Miaoli rescue team told Chinese language newspaper Shin Min Daily News that the woman was lying unconscious in the rear seat, but there were no visible injuries on her body.
The rescue team reclined the front seat and lifted her out of the car to resuscitate her, but she showed no signs of life, and was pronounced dead after arriving at a nearby hospital.
Separately, on the same day, a Vietnamese student was reported to have died after an accident on the same highway – just 4km away.
Local police urged motorists to be extra cautious when driving on this section of the highway, which is known for its bends and slopes. It added that several accidents have occurred there in recent years.
Investigations into both accidents are ongoing.
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