Bus falls off bridge killing 10 South Koreans

A bus carrying a group of South Koreans fell off a highway bridge in northeastern China, killing 10 passengers and the Chinese driver, officials said yesterday.
The accident took place Wednesday after the vehicle left the northeastern Chinese city of Ji’an and was about halfway to its destination of Dandong, which borders North Korea, the official Xinhua News agency said.
China’s Foreign Ministry said 28 people were aboard the bus — 26 South Koreans plus one driver and one tour guide from China. Ten South Koreans and the driver were killed, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, expressing condolences to the victims.
The South Korean government sent an emergency team of 11 officials to China yesterday to assist in coping with the aftermath.
Officials in South Korea said its nationals were on the bus as part of a 140-person delegation of mainly government employees.
They were in China to tour historical sites, including places where Korean independence fighters resisted Japan’s colonial rule before the end of World War II, according to officials from the South Korean Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs.
The bus was part of a six-bus caravan, the South Korean officials said.
Photos circulating online showed the bus resting on its top in shallow water under the bridge.
Some family members began arriving at a funeral hall in Ji’an, according to South Korea’s Yohap news agency.
Eight of the 16 injured were still in serious condition and the injuries of a 36-year-old Korean passenger were life threatening, according to a hospital official. AP/Xinhua

2nd person dies in Taiwan water park fire

The death toll from a blaze at a Taiwan water park party over the weekend rose to two yesterday, with more than 200 injured still in intensive care.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency said 19-year-old college student Liu Chih-wei died early in the morning after suffering burns over 90 percent of his body. A 20-year-old woman died on Monday after suffering similar injuries when colored powder sprayed from a stage caught fire at the party on Saturday night.
The report said Liu had been a design student at the College of Maritime Technology in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei.
Investigators are looking into whether a spark might have triggered the explosion of colored corn powder thrown into the dancing crowd at the Formosa Water Park along the island’s west coast on the outskirts of Taipei.
Among the injured was Alex Haas, 26, of New Hampshire in the United States, who also suffered burns to his lungs and over 90 percent of his body.
Taiwan has since banned the use of flammable powders at all public activities. AP