(Singapore, 21st) — On Friday evening (December 19), a man randomly attacked passersby with a knife at two Taipei Metro stations. A Singaporean civil servant, who was in a bookstore at the time, heard screams and saw smoke before quickly escaping through the back door. During the escape, she witnessed someone fall in panic.
On Saturday morning (20th), reporters contacted Chen Han Si, who is currently in Taipei. She revealed that at around 6 p.m. on Friday, she was browsing groceries on the first floor of the Eslite Nanxi store near Zhongshan MRT station, when she suddenly heard screams at the entrance, saw smoke, and noticed crowds rushing inside. Not knowing what had happened, she immediately ran out through the back door.
"There was a Christmas market outside the back entrance. It was still bustling, and no one seemed to notice anything amiss. I tried to run to the far end of the market and used my phone to contact my family first. Suddenly, I saw another stampede of people rushing from the direction of the Eslite store, so I kept running down another street. At that moment, I still had no idea what had happened."
She said that during her escape, she passed the MRT entrance and briefly considered taking the Metro to leave. But remembering the previous Metro attack years ago, she felt safer staying at street level. During this time, she also saw someone fall in panic, but the injuries appeared to be minor.
Chen Han Si, who visits relatives in Taiwan every year, was traveling with her mother this time. She commented that luckily, because her mother walks with difficulty, she had let her mother and a friend chat in a more distant Starbucks before the incident, while she went to the bookstore. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to escape quickly if she had been with her mother during the incident.
Although she was shocked, Chen Han Si will not shorten her trip and will return to Singapore on the 23rd as originally planned.
"There were so many people at Zhongshan MRT station on Friday evening. I had no idea what was happening at first. When I saw the smoke, I thought of the Hong Kong incident and assumed it was a fire. It was only after watching the news that I learned the attack started at Taipei Main Station, and several innocent people had died."
Asked whether the incident left her traumatized, she said she deeply regrets the innocent casualties, but Taiwanese people have always been warm and friendly. During the incident, people in the bookstore were urging others to leave quickly, warning that something had happened outside. Therefore, she does not have a negative impression of Taiwan, "This was simply an unfortunate event."
The random attack left four people dead, including the perpetrator, and several others injured. The suspect, surnamed Zhang, ultimately died after falling at the Eslite Nanxi store. Following the incident, the bookstore immediately suspended operations and evacuated all personnel. In the early morning of the 20th, Eslite issued another statement saying the Nanxi Store would remain closed for one day on the 20th.
On Saturday morning (20th), reporters contacted Chen Han Si, who is currently in Taipei. She revealed that at around 6 p.m. on Friday, she was browsing groceries on the first floor of the Eslite Nanxi store near Zhongshan MRT station, when she suddenly heard screams at the entrance, saw smoke, and noticed crowds rushing inside. Not knowing what had happened, she immediately ran out through the back door.
"There was a Christmas market outside the back entrance. It was still bustling, and no one seemed to notice anything amiss. I tried to run to the far end of the market and used my phone to contact my family first. Suddenly, I saw another stampede of people rushing from the direction of the Eslite store, so I kept running down another street. At that moment, I still had no idea what had happened."
Chen Han Si, who visits relatives in Taiwan every year, was traveling with her mother this time. She commented that luckily, because her mother walks with difficulty, she had let her mother and a friend chat in a more distant Starbucks before the incident, while she went to the bookstore. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to escape quickly if she had been with her mother during the incident.
Although she was shocked, Chen Han Si will not shorten her trip and will return to Singapore on the 23rd as originally planned.
"There were so many people at Zhongshan MRT station on Friday evening. I had no idea what was happening at first. When I saw the smoke, I thought of the Hong Kong incident and assumed it was a fire. It was only after watching the news that I learned the attack started at Taipei Main Station, and several innocent people had died."
Asked whether the incident left her traumatized, she said she deeply regrets the innocent casualties, but Taiwanese people have always been warm and friendly. During the incident, people in the bookstore were urging others to leave quickly, warning that something had happened outside. Therefore, she does not have a negative impression of Taiwan, "This was simply an unfortunate event."
The random attack left four people dead, including the perpetrator, and several others injured. The suspect, surnamed Zhang, ultimately died after falling at the Eslite Nanxi store. Following the incident, the bookstore immediately suspended operations and evacuated all personnel. In the early morning of the 20th, Eslite issued another statement saying the Nanxi Store would remain closed for one day on the 20th.