The bodies of two missing people were found yesterday, more than 24 hours after a fire and subsequent explosions at a factory in Pingtung County, raising the death toll to nine, authorities said.
The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) also killed four firefighters and injured another 109 people.
Search teams are still looking for one missing person.
Photo: CNA
The fire was extinguished at 9:56pm on Saturday, more than 28 hours after it started on Friday evening, the Pingtung County Fire Bureau said.
Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said it received a call about the fire at 5:31pm on Friday, and firefighters arrived at the location 13 minutes later.
At 6:09pm, after firefighters had entered the premises, an explosion occurred, causing part of the structure to collapse, trapping several firefighters and workers.
A few minutes later, at 6:28pm, a second explosion occurred, Hsu said.
Initially, she had told the media that explosions occurred soon after firefighters were thought to have doused the flames with water, but on Saturday said that water was not used out of fear it could react with combustible gases at the site.
Firefighters instead used dry agents to extinguish the fire, she said.
She yesterday said that she misspoke on Friday due to the chaos at the scene.
She said that when firefighters arrive at a disaster site, they seek to determine the conditions before performing rescue operations.
Firefighters have been trained for situations involving volatile chemicals, and their trucks include a chemical substance checklist to help them look for signs of dangerous chemicals and how to respond to them, she added.
Although the factory provided firefighters with a safety data sheet upon their arrival, it was incomplete, Hsu said, adding that the cause of the incident is still under investigation.
Launch Technologies president Liu An-hao (劉安?) yesterday led executive officials in a bow of apology in an online news conference.
They expressed sorrow over the deaths of firefighters and company staff and offered condolences to the families of victims.
The company would not avoid responsibility, Launch Technologies general manager Lu Ying-cheng (呂英誠) said, adding that it would set up a trust fund to care for victims and their families.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS