Officials seek cause of Taiwan building fire that killed 46

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — Taiwanese officials acceptable up an autarkic committee Friday to analyse the conditions astatine a run-down gathering successful the larboard metropolis of Kaohsiung wherever a occurrence killed 46, portion authorities scoured the blackened ruins for the origin of the blaze.

Prosecutor Hong Ruei-fen told reporters astatine the country she would question to find the origin of Thursday’s occurrence arsenic soon arsenic possible, earlier donning a hard chapeau and walking into the cordoned-off gathering successful the morning.

Outside, a Taoist clergyman successful accepted robes chanted a supplication for those who died, galore of whom were aged oregon infirm residents incapable to get retired of the 13-story gathering aft the occurrence broke retired connected the crushed floor.

The city’s medication said the gathering had been required to travel occurrence codes and taxable to inspections, but that inspectors had not been capable to entree the premises precocious due to the fact that the doors were ever locked and they were incapable to coordinate visits with the spot owners.

Mayor Chen Chi-mai announced that helium had ordered his lawman to acceptable up an autarkic squad to analyse whether negligence contributed to the tragic fire, successful which different 41 radical were injured.

Of the 46 dead, Chen said determination were 21 who had inactive not been identified. He said experts hoped to usage fingerprint investigation to find who the different 19 dormant were, but for 2 others they would person to trust connected different methods.

The gathering had commercialized facilities connected little floors, a closed movie theatre, restaurants and a karaoke barroom — astir retired of concern — and immoderate 120 lodging units above.

The occurrence broke retired successful the little country astatine astir 3 a.m. Thursday, and witnesses reported proceeding a large dependable similar an explosion. It took firefighters until aft 7 a.m. to afloat extinguish the blaze.

Local media accidental constabulary were questioning a pistillate nonmigratory of the gathering who allegedly discarded a burning incense coil successful a trash tin wrong the flat wherever she had besides stored tiny state canisters. A antheral who carelessly discarded a cigaret extracurricular the gathering and the anticipation of a occurrence successful the electrical strategy were besides being investigated, the reports said.

According to vicinity residents, the gathering was location to galore poor, older and disabled people, and galore look to person been trapped successful their apartments.

Lee Mao-sheng, 61, who lives crossed the street, said his person Tseng Yong-kang was wheelchair-bound and died successful the fire.

In the past, the 2 would play mahjong unneurotic but Lee said helium hadn’t seen his person successful a portion due to the fact that doorway successful the building’s elevator often didn’t unfastened and residents didn’t person the wealth to support it.

“The radical who lived inside, galore of them were not successful bully health. Many of them had a disability,” Lee said. Cheap rent was the main crushed radical lived determination nether little than perfect conditions, helium said.

On Friday morning, a ligament mesh obstruction and supporting scaffolding cordoned disconnected the gathering and the thoroughfare successful beforehand was unfastened again to traffic. The gathering did not look successful contiguous information of collapse, though its little floors were blackened and fume marked the exteriors of the precocious apartments.

Tsai Hsiu-Chin, 70, who had lived successful the gathering for 15 years, said she escaped with conscionable the covering connected her backmost aft proceeding idiosyncratic screaming “fire” astatine 3 a.m.

“I didn’t bring anything. I conscionable cared astir redeeming my life,” she said, sitting other the charred gathering connected Thursday night, trying to process her acquisition implicit a brew with a friend.

The building’s property and piles of debris blocking entree to galore areas analyzable hunt and rescue efforts, officials said, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The decades-old flat gathering is 1 of galore successful the Yancheng district, an older portion of Kaohsiung, a metropolis of immoderate 2.8 cardinal radical successful southwestern Taiwan.

Fire extinguishers had been installed past month, but lone 3 per level due to the fact that the residents could not spend to wage more, the United Daily News, a large newspaper, reported.

A 1995 occurrence astatine a nightclub successful Taichung, Taiwan’s third-largest city, killed 64 radical successful the country’s deadliest specified catastrophe successful caller times.

Taijing Wu contributed to this story.