Fire Breaks Out at 3 AM in 40-Year-Old 13-Story Building in Kaohsiung
In the early morning of the 14th, a fire in a 13-story building in Yancheng District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, resulted in 46 deaths and 41 injuries. Photo by AP Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The death toll from the fire that broke out in the early morning of the 14th at a 13-story residential-commercial complex in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung continues to rise, with Taiwanese authorities reporting 46 fatalities.
According to Taiwan Central News Agency on the 14th (local time), Kaohsiung fire authorities announced that the number of deaths from the fire has risen to 46, with at least 41 injured. Earlier, 11 people who were burned to death at the fire scene were immediately sent to the morgue, and the remaining deceased died after being transported to hospitals.
The residential-commercial complex where the fire occurred is 40 years old, with two basement floors and 13 floors above ground. The basement and floors 1 to 5 above ground were closed. Approximately 120 households were known to reside on floors 7 to 11.
Kaohsiung fire authorities deployed 75 fire trucks and 159 firefighters, extinguishing the fire around 7:17 a.m. A fire official said about the suppression process, "The flames were very fierce, and many floors were completely burned."
The exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined. A fire official is investigating the cause based on circumstances where flames were fiercely rising from a pile of items on the first floor.
Accordingly, local media reported that the police are focusing on the possibility of arson and are currently investigating four related individuals.
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