The Shilin District Court yesterday found event organizer Lu Chung-chi (呂忠吉) guilty of professional negligence in causing deaths in the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙樂園) water park disaster on June 27 last year, sentencing him to four years and 10 months in prison.
The ruling, the first verdict on the disaster, sparked furious reactions from people affected by the inferno, who said the sentence was too lenient considering the enormity of the catastrophy.
Fifteen people of the 508 injured in the blaze that swept through a Color Play Asia party at the park died as a result of their injuries. More than 200 sustained serious injuries, and many of them are still in pain, fighting for recovery and requiring medical treatment and daily rehabilitation work.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Most of those who sustained injuries were between the ages of 18 and 25, when they attended the event organized by Lu, proprietor of Color Play Co (玩色創意) and Juipo International Marketing Co (瑞博國際整合行銷), who rented out facilities at the park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里).
Lu did not appear in court for yesterday’s ruling.
His lawyer, Chen Chun-wei (陳君瑋), said “the sentence was too heavy.”
Photo: CNA
“After receiving the official court statement, I will discuss it with Lu. We will certainly appeal this decision,” Chen said.
A group of about 50 people, members of a self-help association, along with relatives and supporters, demonstrated outside the Shilin District Court in Taipei, while some attended the court session to hear the ruling.
They held up banners that read: “We Want Justice” and placards that demanded that the judiciary investigate possible negligence on the part of the New Taipei City Government and the company that owns the water park.
Lee Meng-hsiu (李孟修), who sustained second and third-degree burns to more than 70 percent of his body and is still fighting to recover, said the sentence was far too lenient.
“I felt heavy-hearted when I heard the ruling. I am disappointed at Taiwan’s justice system,” he said.
The father of Liu Chih-wei (劉致葦), who died in the disaster, said he was “disgusted” by the ruling.
“Lu is responsible for the deaths of 15 young people and more than 400 injured people, but for 15 lives, he only got less than a five-year term. In our nation, human lives seem to be worth less than dogs’,” he said.
“I will be talking to our lawyers. We must appeal, because we want justice to be served,” he said.
Association for Victims Support in Taiwan executive Wang Yu-hsiu (王鈺琇) said the nation’s judiciary too often gives convicted criminals light punishments.
“Lu only has to serve a few years in jail, then he will be free, but who will bear the burden for more than 400 young people’s lifetime of pain and stigma after being disfigured by burns?” Wang said.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare data, 281 of the victims sustained burns that covered more than 40 percent of their bodies, including 41 people with burns to more than 80 percent of their bodies.
Three people were still hospitalized as of Monday, the ministry said.
As of December last year, the National Health Insurance program had paid more than NT$800 million (US$24.72 million) to cover the medical costs of burn patients from the disaster, the ministry said.
The National Health Insurance Administration has filed a lawsuit with the Shilin District Court to demand compensation of NT$436 million — the costs incurred during the first month after the accident — from Lu.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
Suspected Chinese spies posing as Taiwanese tourists have been arrested for allegedly taking photographs of Philippine Coast Guard ships, local media reported. The suspected spies stayed at a resort in Palawan, where from a secluded location they used their phones to record coast guard ships entering and leaving a base, Philippine TV network GMA said on Wednesday. Palawan is near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and other disputed areas of the South China Sea, where tensions have been on the rise between China and the Philippines. The suspects allegedly also used drones without permission and installed cameras on coconut trees in the
RSS