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Four Workers Die Due to Military Rescue Team's Inaction in Taiwan
Over the weekend, four workers were stuck in the middle of Pachang Creek in Taiwan Province, during a flood for three hours while the military rescue unit and police rescue team argued over whose responsibility it was to rescue them. The four were finally swept into the raging waters, before the eye of the crowd, and drowned.
On July 22, eight workers were adding reinforcement to the riverbed in Chiayi county's Pachang Creek when the flood hit. Three men and one woman were unable to get out of the way in time and were trapped by the flood. The fire department rushed to the scene but was unable to reach them due to the torrent waters and asked the nearby Seagull Rescue Team for assistance. But the Seagull Rescue Team said that this was in the airborne police rescue team's jurisdiction. By the time the airborne police rescue helicopter took off two hours later, the four workers had been carried away by the floods, in full view of their families as well as the local media.
When many local people saw the tragedy on TV, they reacted vehemently. On July 24, the families of the victims and many angry locals protested in front of the Chiayi air force base. People all over Taiwan Province have held protests over the authorities' inaction. Some people in Taiwan's political circles have said that "Not rescuing four people who are in trouble right in front of your eyes¡what the government did was equal to killing them."
Two of the bodies have been recovered but the other two bodies have yet to be recovered.
Taiwan "Premier" Tang Fei has offered to resign over the incident but "President" Chen Shui-bian has already rejected his resignation.
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