hundreds of people still stuck in tunnels

Rescuers are racing in Hualien (Taiwan), Friday April 5. A high-risk rescue is set up, in the middle of the cliffs which threaten to collapse at any moment. In the Taroko Gorge, several hundred people are waiting for help. Along the way, vehicles crushed by stones illustrate the violence of the earthquake. The roads are mostly closed. One of them has practically disappeared under a carpet of rocks.

“We really come back from the dead”

Rescue is done on foot, in perilous conditions. The injured are evacuated by force of arms on a stretcher. The survivors, ordered to walk along the wall to avoid falling rocks, are in disbelief at having escaped. “We took shelter in a tunnel. A second later, the back of our car was crushed by a rock. We really came back from the dead”, reports a survivor. In these mountains, the network of tunnels has in places saved many lives. 13 people are still missing.