Australians, missing in Taiwan after earthquake, named

Two Australians are among those still missing in Taiwan two days after the worst earthquake in 25 years struck the island nation.

Neo Siew Choo and Sim Hwee Kok and one other foreigner remained unaccounted for on Friday, as rescuers faced further landslides and rockfalls in their search for 18 people still missing from Wednesday’s quake.

Taiwanese officials said they had located the pair’s hotel and were working with police and authorities in Australia to find them.

Firefighters evacuate a body from the Taroko National Park a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in the Hualien county, eastern Taiwan. Credit: Pingtung Fire Dept/AP

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its representatives in Taipei were making urgent enquiries to confirm the welfare of the missing Australians.

Searchers discovered two more bodies since the earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck offshore near the rural eastern county of Hualien, authorities said, bringing the death toll to 12.

A cloud of dirt follows a mudslide a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan.Credit: AP

On Thursday, a helicopter plucked to safety six people stranded in a mining area, and rescue workers reached 400 people cut off in a hotel in a mountainous national park by air and confirmed all were safe.

A helicopter ferried to safety six miners trapped on a cliff in a dramatic rescue after the quake cut off the roads into Hualien’s soaring mountains.

Rescue workers also located most of the roughly 50 hotel workers marooned on a highway as they headed to a resort in the Taroko Gorge National Park.

They also reached the same hotel in the gorge, cut off by the quake, by helicopter and established that all 400 people there were safe. The fire department said work would continue in the morning to reopen the road.

A body was earlier discovered on a hiking trail near the entrance to the gorge. Nine people had been confirmed killed on Thursday.

The Agriculture Ministry urged people to keep away from the mountains because of the risk of falling rocks and the formation of “barrier lakes” as water pools behind unstable debris.

Heavy equipment begins demolition of a collapsed building in Hualien City on Friday.Credit: AP

Thursday was the start of a long weekend holiday for the tomb-sweeping festival. During this time, families traditionally return home to attend to ancestral graves, though others will also visit tourist attractions.

People in largely rural and sparsely populated Hualien county were readying to go to work and school when the earthquake struck offshore on Wednesday.

Buildings shuddered violently in Taipei, but the capital suffered minimal damage and disruption.

Startling dashcam footage has emerged of a car struck by a falling boulder during the earthquake.

A boulder tumbles toward a car in Taiwan during the earthquake.

All those trapped in buildings in the worst-hit city of Hualien have been rescued, but many residents unnerved by more than 300 aftershocks spent the night outdoors.

“The aftershocks were terrifying,” said Yu, a 52-year-old woman, who gave only her family name. “It’s non-stop. I do not dare to sleep in the house.”

Too scared to return to her apartment, which she described as being in a “mess”, she slept in a tent on a sports ground being used as a temporary shelter.

Dozens of residents queued outside one badly damaged 10-storey building, waiting to go in and retrieve belongings.

Two trapped workers of Taroko National Park have a physical examination after being rescued in Hualien County.Credit: AP

Wearing helmets and accompanied by government personnel, each was given 10 minutes to collect valuables in huge garbage bags, though some saved time by throwing items out of windows into the street below.

“This building is no longer liveable,” said Tian Liang-si, who lived on the fifth floor, as she scrambled to gather her laptop, family photographs and other crucial items.

She recalled the moment the quake struck, sending the building lurching and furniture sliding, while she rushed to save the four puppies she keeps as pets.

“I’m a Hualien native,” she told Reuters. “I’m not supposed to fear earthquakes. But this is an earthquake that frightened us.”

with Reuters

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