HONG KONG — At least 36 people are reported dead after a passenger train derailed in a tunnel near the city of Hualien in eastern Taiwan, according to local authorities. The crash is the worst rail disaster in more than 30 years.
The Railway Police Bureau said there were about 350 passengers aboard a Taroko Express train at the time of the accident.
Authorities said that at least 68 people are injured.
The eight-car No. 408 Taroko train was traveling from Taipei to the eastern coastal city of Taitung on Friday when it derailed at 9:28 a.m. local time. The government-run Central News Agency said a maintenance truck that was “not parked properly” was suspected of sliding into the path of the train.
Several carriages hit the walls of the tunnel when the train made impact with the truck, authorities said.
Local media reports suggest that while the second and third cars derailed, carriages five to eight have sustained significant damage inside the tunnel, hampering rescue efforts.
“In response to a train derailment in Hualien, Taiwan, our emergency services have been fully mobilized to rescue & assist the passengers & railway staff affected,” Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen tweeted. “We will continue to do everything we can to ensure their safety in the wake of this heartbreaking incident.”
Friday is the first day of a four-day weekend in Taiwan, with people celebrating the Qingming festival. Many Taiwanese are expected to be flocking to popular holiday areas on the east coast of the island.
Authorities said it’s not yet clear whether anyone will be charged.
April 2, 2021, 4:14 AM
• 3 min read
A small community in rural Georgia is mourning the death of a high school senior after she was killed in an apparently accidental shooting on Tuesday.
Candace Chrzan, 17, was shot and killed Tuesday at about 8 p.m. while hanging out with friends in the backyard of one of their homes, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.
Chrzan was a senior at Mount Zion High School in Jonesboro, Georgia.
“It was just a couple of friends out in the backyard, from what we were told, possibly doing target practice with a pistol,” Ashley Husley, a spokesperson for the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB. “The kids obviously haven’t been taught maybe the gun safety that they should have been. And ultimately it resulted in Candace’s death.”
Officials said they are still investigating the death and have not determined whether any charges will be filed. Law enforcement officials have not announced who owned the gun.
“This remains an open and active investigation and all parties involved in this horrific tragedy are cooperating at this time,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Grief counselors were made available to students at Mount Zion High School on Thursday.
“We ask that you keep the family of Chrzan in your thoughts and prayers as they are trying to process the loss of a bright young soul and please respect their privacy at this time,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We also ask that you remember her classmates at Mount Zion High School as they return to class without her.”
The crash occurred Monday in the Nichupté lagoon in Cancun.
April 2, 2021, 1:36 AM
• 4 min read
Two people are dead after a plane involved in a gender reveal stunt in Mexico crashed into the water.
The incident occurred Monday afternoon in the Nichupté lagoon in Cancun, according to Quintana Roo Nautical Associates, a private nautical business association that said it assisted in the rescue mission.
A video of the gender reveal shows the plane flying over the beach and emitting a pink smoke, as people cheer and shout “Nina!” — Spanish for “girl.”
The camera then pans around and captures the small aircraft as it crashes into the water.
One person died during the crash, and a second person died after being rescued, the attorney general’s office in Quintana Roo state confirmed to ABC News Thursday.
The deceased passengers have not been identified by authorities.
The incident is the latest fatal accident, and plane crash, connected with gender reveal parties.
In February, a 28-year-old New York man was killed when a device he was building for his baby’s gender reveal party exploded, authorities said. In October 2019, a soon-to-be grandmother died in Iowa when a gender-reveal device exploded and sent shrapnel flying.
Also in 2019, an airplane crashed in Texas after the pilot dumped about 350 gallons of pink water, authorities said. Both passengers survived, one suffering only minor injuries.
Fans returned to stadiums for the first time in over a year.
April 2, 2021, 12:02 AM
• 7 min read
COVID-19- and weather-related postponements and limited but enthusiastic fans marked MLB‘s highly anticipated opening day.
Stadiums across the country welcomed back fans Thursday for the first time in over a year, after teams played to mostly empty or cardboard cutout-filled stands last season due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Both the pandemic and inclement weather made for some day-of derailments. Thursday evening’s Washington Nationals home game against the New York Mets was postponed amid “ongoing contact tracing” among members of the Nationals organization, the team announced.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the game will not be made up on Friday,” the league’s built-in off day, the Nationals said in a statement. “We will continue to provide updates as available.”
The Nationals would have been down five players and a staff member after a player tested positive for COVID-19, ESPN reported.
The Red Sox opener against the Baltimore Orioles was also postponed — due to the weather. With a forecast calling for rain throughout the day in the Boston area, team officials announced Thursday’s afternoon game will be rescheduled to Friday — forecast to have sunny skies.
“The decision to postpone our first game of the season was not made lightly,” Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said in a statement. “We have been eager to have fans back at Fenway Park for the first time in 18 months and look forward to welcoming everyone back tomorrow under brighter and drier conditions.”
Snow didn’t stop the Detroit Tigers’ home opener against the Cleveland Indians. The first pitch was thrown in 32-degree weather. Slugger Miguel Cabrera hit his first home run of the season in the first inning as snow came down at Comerica Park. The Tigers went on to clinch the win, 3-2.
With most stadiums not opening to full capacity due to COVID-19 safety protocols, stands were noticeably lacking the typically packed crowds on opening day. For instance, Comerica Park, which can normally hold 42,000 fans, is limited to 8,200.
“It’s quieter than normal on opening day, but, at the end of the day, you make the best of it,” Tigers fan Andrew Postema, who drove from Grand Rapids for the game, told ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ.
Chicago’s Wrigley Field is limited to 25% capacity — about 10,000 fans. They entered using contactless tickets on their phones, one of several safety measures in place this season, along with required face coverings (which present the opportunity for fans to wear masks emblazoned with their team’s logo).
“The fans are real excited to come out,” Cubs fan Shawn Greene told Chicago ABC station WLS. “I’m sure this place would be crowded but it’s just good to be back.”
Fans going to the New York Yankees this season are required to have proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. The stadium, one of the city’s mass vaccination sites, is also continuing to administer vaccinations between home games through at least the end of the month, officials said.
Stuart Goldwasser told New York ABC station WABC he paid $900 for him and his son to be one of the nearly 11,000 fans on opening day at Yankee Stadium, which is limited to 20% capacity.
“Had COVID, got through it and we’re here and we’re going to win the World Series,” Goldwasser said.
“We always come to opening day,” his son told the station. “We come to a bunch of games every year. It was tough not to be here for a couple of years.”
The rest of Illinois will open the vaccine to all on April 12.
April 1, 2021, 6:36 PM
• 6 min read
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city won’t open the vaccine to everyone 16 and older along with the rest of the state in two weeks due to a “quantum leap” in coronavirus cases.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced that anyone 16 and older could get the crucial shot starting April 12, following many other states in expanding vaccine eligibility.
“We have over 400, almost 500 cases, on average as of today. That’s a quantum leap from where we were even three weeks ago,” Lightfoot said at a press conference on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Chicago reported a seven-day rolling average of 519 daily COVID-19 infections, up 41% from the 367 reported a week earlier, according to city data. At the start of the month, the city reported an average of 295 daily cases. Chicago now has a seven-day rolling average positivity rate of 4.6%, up from 3.4% last week.
Lightfoot noted that the uptick in cases emerged primarily on the North Side of the city in neighborhoods like Old Town, Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Portage Park, especially among 18-to-39-year-olds.
“We’re not going to see anything more significant in the reopening front until we see those numbers stabilize and start to come down,” Lightfoot said.
She blamed the spike in infections on young people resuming life as normal as the warm weather moves in. She tweeted Tuesday, “Folks, the pandemic is not over. Warmer weather is not an excuse to make reckless decisions.”
The governor disagreed with Lightfoot’s decision.
“I’m concerned, I will be honest with you, that the city of Chicago seems to want to delay beyond April 12,” he said, speaking at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday. “We should be getting every dose into every arm that we possibly can.”
On Monday, Chicago entered Phase 1C, which opened eligibility to anyone 16 and older with qualifying medical conditions, plus more types of essential workers — food and beverage employees, media members and clergy among them.
As of Thursday, 14.4% of the entire Chicago population has been fully vaccinated, according to city data.
Pritzker and Lightfoot have sparred over COVID-19 guidelines and the handling of the pandemic over the past year.
In October, the two officials, the state’s most powerful Democrats, clashed when Pritzker ordered for a ban on indoor dining and bar service in the city, citing an uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions. Lightfoot argued those businesses needed to stay open to support the economy.
In March of 2020, the two also disagreed over closing public schools. Pritzker ordered all state schools to shutter on March 13, overruling Lightfoot, who expressed concern over keeping kids safe and making sure they had enough to eat.
Lightfoot has demanded more doses be be sent to the city before she opens up eligibility.
Officials announced on Tuesday that Chicago will open two additional mass vaccination sites on Monday — one at a conference center next to Wrigley Field and the other at Chicago State University.
The Robert E. Lee statue was the site of a white nationalist rally in 2017.
April 1, 2021, 8:48 PM
• 5 min read
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Charlottesville can remove two statues of Confederate generals, which civil rights activists say paid homage to America’s history of slavery and racism.
The statues depict Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson and were the site of protests decrying police brutality and racism this summer.
The Robert E. Lee statue was also at the center of a violent white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 that left one woman dead.
In Thursday’s decision, State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Goodwyn said both statues were erected long before a 1997 state law barred local governments from removing monuments paying tribute to past wars.
He said the law only applies to monuments erected after 1997.
The law “did not provide the authority for the City to erect the Statues, and it does not prohibit the City from disturbing or interfering with them,” Goodwyn wrote.
In 2017, the City Council of Charlottesville approved resolutions to remove the statues and locals filed a complaint, alleging the removal was illegal.
A circuit court had barred the removal of Confederate monuments, citing a 1997 Virginia law that prevented the toppling of statues and memorials.
The State Supreme Court also ruled that the circuit court erred in ordering the city to pay $365,000 in plaintiffs’ attorney fees and costs.
In the decision, the court affirmed the 2017 opinion of Attorney General Mark Herring, who argued the law “does not apply to any monument or memorial erected on any property within an independent city prior to 1997.”
“I have worked hard to help remove poisonous Confederate propaganda from our publicly-owned spaces, because I believe it glorifies a false history and sends a dangerous and divisive message about who and what we value,” Herring said. “This work will continue, and I look forward to making our case for the removal of the state-owned Robert E. Lee statue before the Supreme Court of Virginia this summer.”
The Charlottesville City Council praised the decision in a statement Thursday, saying it intends to redesign the parks “in a way that promotes healing and that tells a more complete history of Charlottesville.”
“This is an important case for the Charlottesville community and the rest of the Commonwealth,” said Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles. “The City was very fortunate to have Acting City Attorney Lisa Robertson representing the interests of our community. She has labored extensively over the past four years and I am thrilled she has won all of us this victory in the highest court in Virginia.”
According to The Associated Press, the 1997 law that prevented local governments from removing Confederate statues was repealed in 2020 after Democrats gained control of the General Assembly.
Several other Virginia cities have made similar moves to remove Confederate statues. In Richmond, officials removed several controversial monuments on Monument Avenue. The site was a location for racial justice protests over the past year.
The move could benefit schools and businesses eyeing reopening.
April 1, 2021, 7:07 PM
• 7 min read
More Americans will soon be able to purchase over-the-counter rapid coronavirus tests without a prescription at their local pharmacy or retail store following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of two more at-home tests that are easy to buy and perform.
The FDA on Thursday authorized BinaxNOW, a COVID-19 antigen self-test by Abbott, a U.S. COVID-19 testing manufacturing company. It also authorized the Quick Vue test by Quidel, a diagnostic health care product manufacturer.
Neither requires a prescription.
Abbott says its COVID-19 antigen self-test will be available to individuals with or without symptoms.
“Together with vaccines, the BinaxNOW self-test will help Americans get back to doing what they want and need to do — like going to work and school or seeing friends and family — with greater confidence,” said Robert Ford, Abbott’s president and chief executive officer.
Abbott’s rapid test initially required a health care provider to administer the swab and solution-based test kit, and then it was authorized for at-home use with a virtual proctor watching the process, which was included with the $25 fee. This new FDA authorization allows an individual to perform the test themselves, without a doctor’s prescription and at a lower cost.
An Abbott spokesperson told ABC News the tests are expected to be sold in packs of two and will cost under $10 dollars per test. The spokesperson also said the test should be available in the coming weeks.
Users will only need to perform a minimally invasive nasal swab, not the deeper nasal swaps common in some PCR tests and can expect results in about 15 minutes, accordiing to the company.
Quidel’s test is designed for self-collected nasal swabs for people 14 or older and for adult-collected specimens of children 2 years and up.
Rapid antigen tests provide the advantage of lower costs, fewer supplies and speed than molecular PCR tests, which take one to two days for laboratory processing. PCR tests can detect lower levels of replicating virus, but antigen tests are intended to be accurate at detecting virus when a person is actively sick and most likely contagious.
The FDA has discussed the limitations of the accuracy of some rapid antigen tests and noted that they may be subject to false positive results – especially if there is not a lot of active virus in a specific community or if they are performed incorrectly. Proponents of rapid antigen tests point out the benefit of more people being able to identify when they are most contagious so they know to immediately isolate and not pass on the virus. Confirmation testing is still encouraged.
“The test performs at greater than 95% accuracy, and that’s the kind of level that we need to have the confidence to return to all the many things that we love to do,” said Mary Rodgers, principal scientist at Abbott. “We are prepared with our manufacturing to supply tens of million tests a month.”
Quidel, in a press release said its test “provides results in agreement with PCR 83.5% of the time when positive and 99.2% when negative.” The company did not indicate a timeline for the release of its tests.
The influx of new tests comes as the nation faces a downward trend in the daily administration of COVID-19 tests, with health care workers now focused on distributing vaccine shots. The daily national COVID-19 testing rate is just over 1 million a day, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Public health experts argue that the low testing numbers are not where the nation needs to be to fully pull itself out of the pandemic, as the daily COVID-19 caseload creeps upward.
“The same people who are doing the testing are often the same ones doing the vaccinations,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “And the attention to some of the issues around supply may affect the focus turning to vaccines rather than tests.”
With just about 17% of Americans now fully vaccinated, coronavirus testing remains an important tool in tracking new cases and putting a halt to spread.
The FDA in March issued additional guidance for test developers seeking emergency use authorization of tests screening large groups of individuals for COVID-19 infections. It is guidance that could come in handy for employers and school administrators looking for protection from bouts of coronavirus infection.
“With the FDA’s authorization of multiple tests, the public can be assured these tests have met our scientific standards for emergency use authorization,” said Dr. Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “As we’ve said all along, if it’s a good test, we’ll authorize it.”
Two Capitol Police officers filed a civil suit Tuesday against former President Donald Trump for physical and emotional injuries they say they suffered as a result of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In the lawsuit, James Blassingame, a 17-year veteran of the force, and Sidney Hemby, who has served as a Capitol Police officer for 11 years, quote Trump’s words leading up to the riot, including Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and his assertion that Democrats were “trying to steal” the election.
The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., demands an award of at least $75,000 for each officer for each of the five alleged counts against Trump, as well as punitive damages and costs associated with the litigation. The counts include directing assault and battery, aiding and abetting assault and battery, directing intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violating D.C. statutes against incitement of a riot and disorderly conduct.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Officer Blassingame was one of “eight or nine” officers who rioters confronted in the crypt of the Capitol, directly below the rotunda, the suit alleges.
“The insurrectionists were throwing items, and striking Officer Blassingame and the other USCP officers with their fists and weapons,” the complaint alleges, as a “front line of insurrectionists was being pressed from behind by waves of newly arriving insurrectionists.”
A “forceful surge of insurrectionists pushed forward and slammed Officer Blassingame against a stone column,” striking his spine and the back of his head, leaving him “unable to move,” the suit alleges.
“Foremost in Officer Blassingame’s mind was the terrifying certainty that the insurrectionists were interested in him and the other officers not going home to their families that night,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit also makes a claim similar to what Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas about the racial slurs hurled at officers who were on duty that day.
“For the first time in [Officer Blassingame’s] life, people were yelling into his face, calling him a [n-word] repeatedly and throughout the attack in the crypt. He lost count of the many times the racial slur was hurled at him,” the suit alleges.
The allegations in the suit paint an ugly, violent and vivid picture of the attacks it says Blassingame endured.
“The insurrectionists struck Officer Blassingame in his face, head, chest, arms, and what felt like every part of his body,” it says. “Insurrectionists used their fists and had weapons that ranged from flagpoles to stanchions and building directional signs, water bottles and other objects he could not identify.”
Blassingame’s “sole focus was to do what he could to survive,” the suit claims.
Blassingame alleges that he suffered back and head injuries and “is haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts — the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface.”
The suit also alleges that Blassingame “experiences guilt of being unable to help his colleagues who were simultaneously being attacked; and of surviving where other colleagues did not.”
Following the attack, Blassingame “was not able to sleep,” claims the suit, and he allegedly suffered from “depression that he could not address because he was too consumed with a sense of continued obligation to continue on with his professional responsibilities.”
Because he continues to work in the Capitol, “he is unable to avoid most of the triggers of his emotional reactions,” the suit claims.
Officer Hemby, the suit alleges, was “crushed against the doors on the east side trying to hold the insurrectionists back,” and that the rioters “continued to scream, ‘Fight for Trump,’ ‘Stop the steal,’ and various other slogans, as they struck him with their fists and whatever they had in their hands.”
Hemby also endured being “sprayed with chemicals that irritated his eyes, skin, and throat,” the suit alleges.
The suit alleges Hemby was “bleeding from a cut located less than an inch from his eye” and that he “had cuts and abrasions on his face and hands, and his body was pinned against a large metal door.”
As a result of the attack, the suit claims that Hemby’s “left hand and left knee became swollen and painful,” and that he suffers from back and neck pain and that his skin was burned from being “sprayed in the face and body with chemical sprays.”
Hemby also claims in the suit that he now suffers from trouble sleeping.
The lawsuit cites a litany of Trump’s tweets and public statements leading up to the attack, including his call for a “wild” protest on Jan. 6 and his promotion of “the baseless idea that Vice President Mike Pence could single-handedly reject the election outcome based on false claims that some states wanted to ‘decertify’ or ‘correct’ election results that were not in Trump’s favor.”
The suit also cites the words of a number of prominent Republican lawmakers who place the blame for the riot on Trump, including Sen. Mitt Romney, Rep. Liz Cheney and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who after voting to acquit Trump on the charge of inciting the insurrection, took to the Senate floor on Feb. 13 and made clear his belief that Trump was responsible for the Capitol riot.
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president, and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
What McConnell said next is also cited in the suit, in support of how Trump may still be held accountable for his actions even though he’s no longer in office.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn’t get away with anything yet — yet,” McConnell said. “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”
Police said they arrived as shots were being fired.
April 1, 2021, 3:32 AM
• 3 min read
At least four people are dead, including a child, after “multiple victims” were shot Wednesday in Orange, California, according to authorities.
Officers arrived to 202 W. Lincoln Ave. around 5:30 p.m. local time as shots were being fired and located “multiple victims at the scene including fatalities,” according to the Orange Police Department.
An officer was involved in the shooting, but “the situation has been stabilized and there is no threat to the public,” police said in a statement Wednesday night.
The suspect, along with another victim, was transported to the hospital, according to Lt. Jen Amat of the Orange Police Department.
“I’m deeply saddened by reports of a mass shooting in Orange County, and I’m continuing to keep victims and their loved ones in my thoughts as we continue to learn more. My team and I will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., tweeted Wednesday night.
The ages and names of the victims have not been released.
“Horrifying and heartbreaking. Our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Wednesday night.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
