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Driver in bus blaze was drunk: prosecutors

Driver in bus blaze was drunk: prosecutors

Driver in bus blaze was drunk: prosecutors

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The driver who died along with 25 other people, mostly Chinese tourists, in a bus blaze on July 19, had an alcohol level of 1.075 milligrams per liter, prosecutors said Friday.
A fire broke out on board as the tour bus drove on the No.2 Freeway on its way to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, carrying a group of 23 tourists from China’s Liaoning Province, a Chinese guide and a Taiwanese guide. The bus then hit the railings, blocking several possible emergency exits.
According to coroners, alcohol was found in the dead driver’s blood, urine and stomach, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office said. Levels amounted to 215 mg per deciliter or 1.075 mg per liter in his blood, 207 mg per deciliter in his urine, and 3.708 mg per deciliter in his digestive system, prosecutors said.
The amounts found indicated that alcohol would have played a part in the accident, while the legal maximum limit for blood alcohol content was 0.25 mg per liter, reports said.
In addition, the unexplained presence of several containers with gasoline inside the bus has given rise to unconfirmed theories that the driver, Su Ming-cheng, was planning to commit suicide.
One of the unexplained factors in the accident has been why he never stopped the bus on the side of the highway after smoke started billowing out of his vehicle, as was seen on camera footage. The latest theory mentioned by the media Friday was that Su might have been too inebriated to take the necessary action.
Prosecutors also investigated his social environment and found out he had little interaction with his colleagues at the bus firm, which he joined last October after almost 20 years as a driver. His relation with the Taiwanese tour guide who died in the fire was not good, according to media reports.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily said Su had three children but only made slightly more than NT$30,000 (US$939) a month. His 87-year-old father told the paper that Su originally worked as a truck driver, but his change to driving buses had not brought him any more money.
He has just completed a long holiday from June 17 to July 10, investigators said, adding that the driver had left no will, and that therefore other motives than suicide should also be looked at.