Nantou prosecutors have indicted five hikers, including a former high-ranking official in the National Communications Commission (NCC), for starting an 80-hectare fire in Yushan National Park in May that caused over NT$200 million (US$7.15 million) in damages.
In a press release Wednesday, Nantou District Prosecutors Office said the group of hikers led by former NCC senior specialist Joseph Chiao (???) sparked the 12-day blaze by lighting an illegal campfire on May 15, and then attempted to mislead investigators about the incident.
According to the statement, Chiao's party lit a campfire to cook dinner at Dujuan Campground on the Batongguan Traversing Trail, despite notices on their park entry permits and within the campground warning that open fires were prohibited.
After the group went to sleep, Chiao woke up at around midnight to discover that embers in the fire pit had reignited into a small fire, which he tried to put out himself, before moving his tent away from the area and going back to sleep, prosecutors said.
At around 4 a.m., Chiao awakened to find that the fire had grown out of control, at which point he woke up his companions and reported the blaze to Nantou County Fire Department, the office said.
In its statement, the prosecutors' office specifically faulted Chiao for trying to extinguish the fire without waking the others, and for only reporting the fire once it had gotten out of control.
Following the incident, prosecutors said, Chiao denied that the group lit a campfire, and instead tried to mislead investigators by claiming the blaze started when he tripped over a gas stove while cooking breakfast.
Chiao and other members of the group also deleted incriminating photos and messages from their phones, while another member of the party, surnamed Wu (?), responded to a search order by providing investigators with a spare phone, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, the fire started by Chiao's group burned 79.7 hectares of land over a period of 12 days, of which 22.09 hectares were totally destroyed, and caused an estimated NT$228.59 million in damage.
The office said it had indicted the five under the Forestry Act for crimes including setting fire to another's forest, which is punishable by 3-10 years' imprisonment.
It said it would urge the court to impose a heavy penalty, citing the "poor attitudes" the defendants displayed during the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Forestry Bureau confirmed Wednesday that it would seek full compensation from the group for the damage caused by the fire, in what would be the largest civil claim in the agency's history.
Last month, the bureau's deputy director-general Liao Yi-kuang (???) said the claim would be filed as an ancillary civil action, which would proceed alongside the criminal case against the group.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel