Twenty-six people died after a tourist bus collided with a road barrier and then caught fire on a highway to Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday. (Photo provided to China News Service)
A Chinese mainland official on Thursday expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with a serious tour-bus accident on Tuesday in Taiwan.
Liu Kezhi, secretary-general of the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, made the statement to the press in Taoyuan City after a remembrance service for those who died in the accident.
Liu said he hoped Taiwan would launch a thorough investigation into the accident and listen to the relatives of the victims when handling the aftermath of the accident.
Twenty-six people, 23 tourists and a tour guide from the mainland and two local people -- a driver and a tour guide, were killed when a tour bus crashed into a highway barrier and caught fire near Taoyuan airport on Tuesday.
According to the official, the mainland-based association had repeatedly urged Taiwan to ensure the safety of mainland tourists after a series of accidents involving a number of mainland tourist casualties.
Liu is leading a mainland working group that arrived in Taiwan Wednesday to help handle the accident.
A meeting was held between the mainland group and the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association on the accident Wednesday, according to Liu.
