A woman died yesterday after collapsing while waiting in line for a lucky coin at a temple in Nantou County.
People every year line up — sometimes for days — at Zihnan Temple (紫南宮) in Jhushan Township (竹山) to receive a “mother coin” (錢母), which is believed to bring wealth in the new year.
The temple said it planned to hand out more than 100,000 of the coins for the upcoming Year of the Snake.
Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
The 75-year-old surnamed Lo (羅) from Miaoli County joined thousands of others this morning in lining up for the coins.
While waiting, Lo suddenly fainted, and her fellow worshipers called an ambulance that took her to nearby Chu Shang Show Chwan Hospital.
The woman had suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived, the Nantou County Fire Bureau said.
Bystanders said that Lo exhibited no signs of discomfort before she fainted, it said.
As she did not have any identification on her, the bureau said it was still awaiting information about her medical history.
The precise cause of death was still being investigated, it added.
Hospital authorities said that Lo’s heartbeat had already stopped when she was still in line, and emergency room doctors were unable to save her after arrival at the hospital.
According to information from the Central Weather Administration, the temperature yesterday morning in Jhushan was 15°C to 17.5°C.
Others at the temple said that it was drizzling on and off, but it was not particularly cold.
Temple director Chuang Chiu-an (莊秋安) said that people rushed to get a defibrillator from the temple office immediately after Lo fainted while also contacting emergency services.
By the time the defibrillator got to Lo, paramedics had already arrived to take her to the hospital, Chuang added.
Meanwhile, the fireworks manufacturer contracted for Taichung’s New Year’s fireworks display has been fined NT$100,000 after a six-year-old girl was injured by falling fireworks, the city government said yesterday.
The Taichung City Government held a New Year’s celebration at Taichung Central Park (台中中央公園) that featured a three-minute fireworks show at midnight.
Some embers and sparks from the fireworks fell into the crowd, starting a fire and burning the face of a six-year-old girl from Japan.
City departments are providing the child with support, assistance and care, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said.
An investigation is being conducted to determine whether the incident was caused by weather conditions or a technical issue on the part of the contractor, Lu added.
The Taichung Fire Bureau later said an initial investigation found that an iron frame securing the firing tubes was loose.
This led to the first and second round of fireworks firing at an unsafe angle, the bureau said.
The contractor, a third-party fireworks manufacturer contracted by Sanlih Entertainment Television, has been fined NT$100,000 for contravening the Fireworks Management Act (爆竹煙火管理條例), it added.
The type, specifications and quantity of fireworks, as well as safety distances, personnel and precautionary measures, all followed regulations, the bureau said.
However, during the show, the misfiring caused embers and sparks to fall into the crowd and ignite weeds, causing a fire, it added.
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