Funeral to be held July 25 for victims of tour bus fire

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-21
By: Bien Chin-feng and Christie Chen, Central News Agency

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) A funeral service will be held July 25 for the victims of a July 19 tour bus fire that killed all 26 people on the vehicle, including 24 from China.

The remains of the victims will be cremated July 24, after which the families of the Chinese victims are set to bring their ashes back to China. The families of the Chinese victims were scheduled to arrive in Taiwan later Thursday on a charter flight. Police and prosecutors will collect DNA samples from them before taking them to a funeral parlor in Taoyuan, so that the charred remains can be identified. Premier Lin Chuan (林全) will also pay his respects at the funeral parlor later Thursday.

Yang Jing, vice general manager of the Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China’s Dalian branch, told China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency that 12 of the victims were covered by the company, which had so far paid out over 1.2 million Chinese yuan (US$179,701) in insurance claims to the families of four of the victims as of Wednesday.     [FULL  STORY]