Two Mormon missionaries found dead on Saturday in their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, New Taipei City police said yesterday.
The deceased men were a 24-year-old Taiwanese and a US citizen, 19, police said.
The Associated Press reported earlier in the day that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon church and based in Utah, said the two missionaries were Connor Benjamin Thredgold, 19, of Utah and Xiong Yu-peng (熊宇鵬), 24, of Greater Kaohsiung.
Police said that they found the bodies after other Mormon missionaries reported the pair missing.
Prosecutors found a faulty indoor gas water heater, which they determined to be the cause of the fatal carbon monoxide leak.
There were no suspicious circumstances and the case has been closed, police said.
The New Taipei City Fire Department reminded the public that carbon monoxide poisoning does not just happen in winter when people close their windows against the cold.
In the summer, carbon monoxide poisoning can be a hazard, as people tend to keep doors and windows closed to maintain the coolness produced by air conditioners, the department said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would help handle Thredgold’s death, if it is asked to do so.
The report also said that the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper in Utah reported that Xiong had taken a position as a missionary in March last year.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS