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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Four killed in Taichung mall explosion
2025/02/14 03:00
Windows of the Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store are broken following a gas explosion yesterday morning. Photo courtesy of a Taichung resident
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor
By Huang Hsu-lei, Chiu Chih-jou and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters, with staff writer and CNA
Shin Kong Group （新光集團） president Richard Wu （吳昕陽） yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday.
The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District （西屯）.
It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung Shan Medical University Hospital.
Fire Bureau Director-General Sun Fu-yu （孫福佑） said that the incident was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the department store’s 12th floor.
Renovation work on the 12th floor was ongoing when the blast occurred, but whether it was the cause remains to be investigated, he said.
Wu arrived at the site and expressed concern to people who were affected, saying that Shin Kong Group would assist with the investigation and take accountability for providing compensation for the people who were injured.
The company’s leadership yesterday offered NT$1 million （US$30,486） in compensation to each of the families of the people killed, and visited 25 injured people in hospitals to provide consolation money.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Ching-yi （林靜儀） said that the ministry has asked the Taichung Health Bureau to activate the mechanism for multiple casualty incidents.
The ministry also asked the Regional Emergency Medical Operations Center’s Taichung Branch to assist with referral of patients, she said.
The injured people would first be sent to emergency rooms with triage performed on them to divert them to suitable hospitals, Lin said, calling on the public not to rubberneck.
A family of seven from Macau passing by the department store was struck by falling debris from the building due to the explosion.
The debris killed the family’s grandparents and seriously injured the two-year-old granddaughter, with the rest of the family incurring lighter injuries.
Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Liang Wen-chieh （梁文傑） said the council’s Department of Hong Kong, Macau, Inner Mongolia and Tibetan Affairs has sent personnel to Taichung to learn more about the situation.
The council would report the incident to the Macanese government and take proactive measures to help the family, including assisting their relatives to travel to Taiwan if needed, he said.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said a task force of six prosecutors has been set up to collect evidence and conduct an investigation in collaboration with the police and the fire bureau.
Taichung Labor Affairs Bureau Director Chiu Yi-chuan （邱怡川） said the initial investigation was conducted based on witnesses’ testimony, as the department store’s 12th and nearby floors were still locked down.
The incident is suspected to be a dust explosion, given that fire sources such as welding activities were absent and there were no flames after the blast, he said.
The cause of the incident cannot be confirmed before the results of the fire bureau’s investigation, Chiu said, adding that the ministry would look into whether the construction site on the 12th floor had fire-proof and explosion-proof equipment.
An order to suspend the construction has been issued to the department store, he said.
The company undertaking the construction work would be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$300,000 if the site is found to have contravened the Occupational Safety and Health Act （職業安全衛生法）, he said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yun-feng, Tsai Shu-yuan and Su Chin-feng
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
The ceiling in a dining area inside the Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store collapses after an apparent gas explosion yesterday morning. Photo courtesy of a Taichung resident
Paramedics attend to a man who is injured because of an apparent gas explosion at the Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store gas explosion yesterday morning. Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
