Taiwan Tour Group Involved in Bus Crash in Russia! Families Sought Help from Chinese Consulate, Foreign Ministry Responds

According to ETtoday, a 13-day tour group from Taiwan traveling through Mongolia and Russia was involved in a serious bus accident on July 20 while en route to Lake Baikal in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. The crash resulted in the fatal injury of the local driver and left five Taiwanese tourists with minor injuries.

Given that Taiwan’s representative office in Moscow is over 4,000 kilometers from the accident site, the anxious families, unwilling to wait for distant assistance, chose to contact the Chinese Consulate General in Irkutsk through private channels due to its closer proximity.

Zhang Han, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), confirmed on the 22nd that the consulate in Irkutsk received the distress call late on the 20th and immediately coordinated with local hospitals to dispatch an ambulance for the injured. Consular staff also visited the injured to offer慰问. Zhang emphasized, "Providing consular protection and assistance to Chinese citizens overseas, including our compatriots from Taiwan, is our duty."

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Tourism Administration clarified that the tour was organized by Lily Travel Agency and that the five injured tourists had returned to the group after receiving medical treatment with no serious conditions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that its representative office in Russia had not received any formal request for help and urged travelers in Russia to contact the emergency number for Taiwan’s representative office (+7-969-008-6111) or have relatives in Taiwan call the Ministry’s 24-hour Emergency Operations Center at 0800-085-095 for immediate assistance.