Two people were killed and three were injured after scaffolding collapsed at a building site in Yunlin County on Saturday.
Construction work at the site has been ordered to stop.
The fatal scaffolding collapse occurred at a Formosa Advanced Technologies Co building site in Douliu City (斗六市) on Saturday afternoon. An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the incident.
Photo courtesy of a member of the public via CNA
The company expressed sorrow over the casualties, saying it would give its utmost to assist with the follow-up matters.
Yunlin’s fire department received a call about the incident at about 4pm. When they arrived, they found that the scaffolding had partially collapsed, trapping more than a dozen workers.
Eleven fire rescue vehicles and 38 firefighters were dispatched.
A 40-year-old male and a 45- year-old female had out-of-hospital cardiac arrests when the rescue teams arrived and were pronounced dead when they arrived at the hospital, the department said.
The three injured, all women in their 40s, were taken to another hospital where they received treatment for head trauma, it added.
Fifteen people were trapped by the scaffolding, of which five were rushed to the hospital and 10 did not require treatment, the Yunlin fire department said.
Heavy rain and strong winds were seen in a video clip provided by local residents who recorded the collapse, but the cause of the incident has not yet been confirmed.
The Yunlin County Government ordered construction to be halted immediately.
Meanwhile, Formosa Advanced Technologies Co said the incident did not cause any major impact to its operations, as the factory was still under construction.
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