Taiwan earthquake death toll rises to 13, over 600 people still trapped while rescue workers face landslide threat

Three days after the devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan, which killed at least 13 people in the eastern Taiwanese county of Hualien, more than 600 people are still stranded.

As rescue workers continue to work to evacuate the remaining trapped people, they face numerous dangers from landslides, rockfalls and aftershocks.

Hundreds of them are trapped in a national park in Hualien, including about 400 in a single hotel, after Wednesday’s earthquake sent boulders raining down the mountainside and cut off roads to the remote region.

On Saturday, the death toll rose to 13 after a third victim was found on the park’s Shakadang Trail. Most of the victims died outdoors from falling rocks or landslides.

The earthquake was the strongest to hit the island since the 1999 earthquake that killed 2,400 people. Survivors reported falling rocks blocking roads and, in some cases, trapping people in tunnels.

Officials said most of the stranded people appeared to be safe as rescue workers used helicopters, drones and small teams with dogs to reach them.

Four people died while hiking in the Taroko Gorge, and four others lost their lives while crossing the region’s mountain roads.

About 50 hotel employees, most of whom are now safe, were stranded on the road to the national park.

“We were terrified when the earthquake happened. We thought it was all over, all over, all over, because it was an earthquake, right?” a hotel security manager who was trapped in the area told Reuters after he was rescued, adding that boulders were still rolling down as the group left the hotel.

“We had to navigate through the gaps between the falling rocks, with the rescue team in the lead,” he said.

The area has been hit by hundreds of aftershocks since Wednesday, including a magnitude 5.2 earthquake on Saturday.

Due to the aftershocks, search and rescue operations were temporarily suspended on Friday.

Rescue workers want to use heavy equipment to recover two bodies trapped under boulders in the park. However, the risk of a landslide and the expected rain are making the rescue difficult.

“Rain increases the risk of rockfalls and landslides, which are currently the biggest challenge. These factors are unpredictable, which means we cannot confirm the number of days needed for search and rescue operations,” said Su Yu-ming, the head of a search team.

According to the Taiwanese disaster management agency, more than 1,100 people have been injured by the earthquake so far.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has sharply criticized Bolivia for expressing solidarity with China after the earthquake. China, which views the self-ruled island as a breakaway region and has threatened to retake it by force if necessary, has “thanked” the international community for its concern over the Taiwan earthquake.

Earlier this week, Bolivia said it “expresses its solidarity with its sister republic, the People’s Republic of China, in the face of the loss of life and serious material damage caused by a strong earthquake that occurred in the last hours off the coast of Taiwan.”

“You should not be the pathetic puppet of the evil, expansionist PRC who jumps when Beijing says jump… Just like Taiwan, Bolivia is not part of communist China. Nothing more, nothing less,” Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu posted on X.