Channel News Asia
Date: 31 Oct 2018

Yu (C) wept uncontrollably as he knelt and apologised at the memorial (Photo: AFP/Central News Agency)

TAIPEI: The driver of a train that derailed and killed 18 people this month apologised to victims’ families at an emotional memorial service in southern Taiwan on Wednesday (Oct 31) after being accused of “professional negligence” by a court.

It was the first time driver Yu Cheng-chung had spoken in public since the Puyuma Express derailed on Oct 21. He wept uncontrollably as he knelt and apologised at the memorial in Taitung county, home to 15 of the dead.

“I’m sorry, this will be forever a pain in my heart,” he said in footage aired on local television.

The crash on the popular east coast line also injured over 200 people and left the carriages lying zig-zagged across the tracks in the island’s deadliest rail accident for a quarter century.    [FULL  STORY]