Last-known images of missing S’poreans show them waiting to board bus in Taiwan

Missing Singaporeans in Taiwan queued up to board sightseeing bus 1.5 hours before earthquake

The last-known images of Singaporeans Neo Siew Choo and Sim Hwee Kok, who went missing after the 3 April Taiwan earthquake, have been released.

The CCTV footage shows them queueing up to board a bus heading to Taroko National Park, near the quake’s epicentre.

This was about 1.5 hours before the 7.4-magnitude quake struck.

Missing Singaporeans seen crossing Taiwan road

The video of the missing Singaporeans was released by Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN) on Saturday (6 April), based on reader contributions.

The first four-second clip showed them crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing.

Mr Sim was wearing a dark T-shirt and khaki berms and carrying a black backpack. His wife wore a maroon top and beige shorts.

Missing Singaporeans seen queueing for bus in Taiwan

In the second clip, the couple were seen at Hualien Bus Station.

The footage, which had a timestamp of 6.24am on 3 April, showed them approaching a queue of people.

They joined the queue for the bus, which was reportedly the 310 Taroko Tourist Shuttle, boarding it at about 6.30am, according to the Taiwanese police.

The island’s strongest earthquake in 25 years struck at 7.58am south of Hualien, barely 1.5 hours after the couple boarded.

Couple alighted from bus earlier, location unknown

When the bus reached its destination of Tianxiang at 8am, the couple weren’t there.

That’s because they had alighted earlier.

Their location is unknown as the bus and its driver are still stuck in the mountains after the earthquake caused landslides that blocked off roads and tunnels.

Video footage from the bus cannot be accessed either as communication has been cut off.

The authorities managed to contact the bus driver at 1.40pm on Saturday, but he couldn’t determine where the couple alighted, UDN reported.

He said the bus camera was locked and he couldn’t break it open for the time being.

Rescuer appeals for info on couple

On Friday (5 April) evening, a volunteer rescuer named Sunny Sandro Wang took to the “Hualien earthquake rescue update” Facebook group attempting to get in touch with the couple’s relatives and friends.

Through them, he hoped to get their photos and find out more information about them to assist in the search.

He later updated on Saturday (6 April) that he had gotten in touch with Mr Sim’s sister, who provided a photo of the couple.

The netizen also shared that rescuers are contacting the couple’s friends in hopes of obtaining more information on their whereabouts.

Couple’s family cancels plans to go to Taiwan

Meanwhile, family members of the couple were slated to fly to Taiwan.

However, as of Saturday, they had cancelled their plans as they had to take care of their elderly parents, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency was quoted as saying by UDN.

They did, however, request for updates on the situation.

Also read: 2 S’poreans missing after Taiwan earthquake last seen boarding sightseeing bus

2 S’poreans missing after Taiwan earthquake last seen boarding sightseeing bus

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Featured image adapted from United Daily News.