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.
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