Fire injures 524 in Taiwan
At least 524 people were injured in an explosion and fire at
water park in Taiwan during a festival on the weekend, and 194 of them
are in serious condition, although no deaths have been reported, local
health authorities said.
The majority of the victims suffered
serious burns or inhaled large quantities of toxic smoke or powder, and
two women about 20 years old were burned over more than 80 percent of
their bodies, Taiwan's CNA news agency reported.
It appears that
the explosion of a large quantity of flammable powder was the cause of
the incident, which occurred in New Taipei, on the northern part of the
island, authorities said, adding that an investigation is under way.
The
injured were taken to a total of 43 hospitals in New Taipei and
neighboring Taipei itself, while authorities have asked other cities
such as Keelung to be prepared to receive and treat victims.
A
total of 183 patients are in intensive care and urgently need skin
grafts, according to Taiwan's health bureau, as reported by mainland
China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
The health bureau added that
it had issued urgent calls to assorted organizations and the plastic
surgery association for skin donations and other surgical needs.
The
fire erupted at 9:52 p.m. on the stage at the water park, where the
flammable powder appeared to detonate towards the end of the "Color Play
Asia" festival being attended by about 4,500 people, Xinhua said.
Several
videos posted on the Internet show people crying out for help as a wave
of smoke or dust envelops the scene and the smoke then bursts into
flame.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, New Taipei Mayor Eric
Chu Li-luan, who is also head of the governing Kuomintang Party, ordered
a moratorium on the use of flammable powder in the region, a move
followed by municipalities elsewhere on the island.
Among the
injured are three citizens of the People's Republic of China and an
as-yet-undetermined number of other foreigners.
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