HUALIEN (TVBS News) — The search and rescue team from Hualien County recovered the body of another victim of the April 3 earthquake from Shakadang Trail on Wednesday (April 10) morning.
The team continued their excavation efforts and began by performing a traditional ritual, burning paper money as an offering.
They then moved a large boulder and, at 11:45 a.m., recovered the body of a presumed female victim. The body was packaged and manually removed and is currently being transported to a funeral home. A second victim is expected to be retrieved soon.
The Hualien earthquake search and rescue operation is now in its eighth day, with the focus still on two major landslide areas on the Shakadang Trail, at 0.5 kilometers and 1.8 kilometers.
Two bodies were discovered at the 0.5-kilometer mark on April 5, believed to be two members of the missing Yu family of five, but they were trapped under a large boulder.
A 40-ton excavator has been making progress over the past few days and finally reached the site this morning.
Chien Hung-cheng, the head of the special search team of the Hualien County Fire Department, said the hotspots for today's search are still at the 0.5 and 1.8-kilometer marks.
Before the excavator began to move the large boulders pressing on the two bodies, the rescuers burned incense and paper money. The bodies were then dug out around noon, packaged, and manually carried out to be transported to the Hualien City Funeral Home.
Originally, there were eight people on the Shakadang Trail, including a 21-year-old woman surnamed Hu, the Yu family of five, and a couple from Singapore. The body of Ms. Hu had been previously recovered.
With the retrieval of these two bodies, there are still five people missing on the Shakadang Trail.