A fire swept through an eight-floor apartment building in Taipei County early yesterday morning, killing 13 people and injuring 70.
The Panchiao District Prosecutors' Office said the blaze was started by a resident of the first floor, Hsu Jui-chin (
After arguing with her husband the night before, the woman poured varnish on herself and set herself alight.
PHOTO: HUANG CHI-HAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The fire, in Luchou, broke out around 1:50am and quickly spread to the upper floors.
The fire and smoke woke up many residents. Some fled to the top floor, but many found the fire was outside their door and iron bars on their windows prevented escape.
Alleys in the neighborhood were too small for fire trucks to pass through.
Firefighters began battling the blaze on the lower floors and then set up ladders and other rescue equipment to help the trapped residents.
Some could not wait for help to arrive and attempted to use the building's escape equipment. Many of them, however, were unable to hold on to the escape rope and plunged to the ground.
Firefighters had completely extinguished the blaze by about 4am.
According to the preliminary investigation, the fire started in a parking space for scooters.
Witnesses said they heard an argument from a couple downstairs before the fire broke out.
Hsu's husband, Chiou Tsun-sheng (邱春生), surrendered to police and explained what had happened.
"I argued with my wife the night before. I am a house painter and had stored lots of varnish at home, but I did not imagine my wife would set fire to the varnish to get back at me and cause this tragedy," Chiou said.
Hsu was badly burnt and was sent to the intensive care unit at the Shin Kong Wu Ho Wu Memorial Hospital (
The hospital said she was in critical condition.
Police have not been able to talk to her.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and instructed government departments to help with disaster relief.
"I am very sorry to hear about the fire, and I give my condolences to the victims and the families of the deceased on behalf of the entire country," Chen said.
He also demanded that police determine the cause of the fire as soon as possible to prevent similar tragedies from happening again, and said that those responsible should be disciplined.
Chen said he hoped that the local government would handle disaster relief and safety issues well.
Chen went to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital yesterday afternoon to visit the injured. He was accompanied by Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS