The Taipei City Government is to inspect the fire-alarm systems at all Cashbox Partyworld KTV branches, as well as all other KTVs and movie theaters in the city, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, one day after a blaze at the Cashbox Partyworld KTV branch on Linsen N Road killed five people.
Taipei Fire Department Commissioner Wu Jun-hung (吳俊鴻) said the first report of the fire was received at 10:57am, and the fire was extinguished within 27 minutes, while 156 customers in the KTV’s private rooms were rescued.
Ninety-five people sought medical treatment after the fire, including 54 sent to nearby hospitals by department personnel, he said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Cashbox Partyworld branch had been inspected many times between 2018 and March 30, and had passed its twice-a-year safety inspections last month as well as in October last year, he said.
However, although the branch had submitted a renovation application to the Taipei Construction Management Office, it had not given a fire protection plan for the renovation process to the department, he said.
A primary investigation found that the fire broke out in a storage room in the northwest corner of the building, and that the building’s five fire protection systems, including the smoke extraction system, had been turned off, which is why many people suffered smoke inhalation.
Ko said that he visited some of the injured people in three hospitals on Sunday evening: One was on life support in intensive care, while seven were on tracheal intubation.
The city government launched four measures to deal with the aftermath of the fire, the first being the Department of Social Welfare and Department of Civil Affairs establishing a task force to provide one-on-one assistance to the victims, he said.
The second is a task force launched by the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Legal Affairs to help the victims and Cashbox KTV’s management deal with compensation and legal matters, he said.
The third is a new inspection of all KTVs, movie theaters and enclosed public spaces, especially all the Cashbox Partyworld KTV branches, which would not be able to operate if they do not pass the inspections, Ko said.
The fourth would be an investigation into the fire and why the fire protection systems were turned off, he said, adding that all information would be turned over to prosecutors.
The Construction Management Office and the Taipei Fire Department would impose the severest possible punishments if evidence of misconduct is found, he added.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said the plan is to complete all the KTV and movie theater inspections within a week.
The city plans to conduct more frequent and unscheduled inspections, to ensure that business owners take fire safety matters seriously, as strict regulations are not enough if people do not follow them, she said.
The fire department helps business owners conduct fire drills, but the question is whether management takes such drills to heart, she added.
If the building’s sprinkler and smoke extraction systems had been working on Sunday, there might have been be fewer victims, Huang said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS