Two men died after a blaze broke out yesterday afternoon at an unregistered private nursing facility in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
The Taipei Fire Department said that after a team broke into the house, three men were found in their beds, all of whom had burns and had inhaled smoke.
“No one else was found at the scene,” it said, adding that the fire could have been caused by overheading equipment, as burned wires were found.
Photo copied by CNA
A 70-year-old surnamed Chuang (莊) and a 59-year-old surnamed Liu (劉) were confirmed dead at a nearby hospital, while a 69-year-old surnamed Chen (陳) was in critical condition, police said.
The nursing home was not registered, Taipei Social Welfare Department Director-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) said, adding that an unregistered long-term care facility can be fined NT$60,000 to NT$300,000 under the Long-Term Care Services Act (長期照顧服務法).
The owners could also be punished for negligence under the Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), officials said.
A nearby resident who did not want to be named said the nursing home has been operational for one to two years, and the owner never talked to her neighbors.
Department of Social Welfare officials had visited the house once, but the owner refused to allow them inside and let a dog out to scare them, the resident said.
The owner, a 58-year-old woman surnamed Ting (丁), was reportedly monitoring the building from a nearby coffee shop when she saw the flames and fled, but was later picked up by police and taken for questioning.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that the city would reach out to the families of the victims, and would hold the owner accountable, she said.
Additional reporting by Cheng Ching-yi and Wang kuan-jen
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite