Hokkaido bus pile-up accident: Southeast: 12 Taiwanese tourists injured, 3 with facial wounds

▲ Huang Chia-hung, head of Southeast Travel Service’s Japan Department, explains the location of the incident. (Photo / Reporter Chen Jui-chung)

Reported by Chen Jui-chung, Taipei

Southeast Travel Service reported a vehicle accident in Hokkaido this morning (December 28). Among the 27 members (26 tourists and 1 tour leader), 12 passengers sustained minor injuries.

Huang Chia-hung, head of Southeast Travel Service’s Japan Department, stated that at 10:35 a.m., a tourist bus carrying an Indonesian tour group collided with a Japanese private car on the highway. The Southeast Travel Service vehicle behind swerved to avoid the collision but skidded on the snowy and slippery road, resulting in the accident. Out of the 27 passengers, 12 suffered minor injuries. Two had facial and eye injuries from shattered eyeglass fragments, one had a slight nose fracture, and the rest had bruises from the impact. Three people from the Indonesian tour group were also injured.

Huang Chia-hung said the tour group departed on December 26 and was scheduled to return to Taiwan on December 30. Today’s original itinerary was to travel from Hakodate to Jozankei. Following the incident, the itinerary will be adjusted, and the group will still return to Taiwan as originally planned. Huang added that families and the Tourism Bureau have been notified, and further arrangements regarding insurance and other follow-up matters will be handled in accordance with relevant regulations.