Title: Church in Southern Taiwan Reaches Out to Bus Accident Victims
Taiwan Church News 2858 4-10 December 2006
Reported by Li Hsin-ren. Written by David Alexander
On 3rd December a tour bus carrying 45 students and family members from Ting-chin Elementary School in Kaohsiung City went off a road in Tainan County. Twenty-one of the passengers died immediately, followed by a few more in the days following. This was the worst bus accident in the past 20 years in this country. Immediately upon receiving the news, the Rev. Song Sin-lok (Martin Song), pastor of Ting Chin Presbyterian Church, went to the school to offer pastoral care to the families and lead in prayers.
The school’s “Parents’ Association” had organized the trip, which took in the Chi-mei museum and an overnight in the mountains, away from Kaohsiung’s urban bustle. On the afternoon of December 3rd the bus left Mei-ling en route back to the city, but went over a curve and down a 20 meter embankment. Survivors were sent to several medical facilities, including the Moa-tao branch of the Sinlau Christian Hospital.
On the following day, Rev. Song went to Tainan Theological College, where he is a visiting lecturer, and, after teaching his courses, went to visit the injured and their families in Tainan Area hospitals, offering prayers and pastoral care to those he met. Ting Chin Church is also heading up a fund-raising project in Kaohsiung Churches to provide some condolence payments to survivors.
For more information: Song Sin-lok r4526@ms55.hinet.net
Ting Chin Church dcchurch1955@yahoo.com.tw
www.dcchurch.idv.tw
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw