• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Taiwan building fire leaves 46 dead, dozens hurt

Taiwan building fire leaves 46 dead, dozens hurt

The death toll from a fire in the city of Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan that engulfed a building on Wednesday night has further risen to 46.

According to the Associated Press report on Thursday, October 14 at least another 41 people were injured.

A 13-story building caught fire around 3 am in the city of Kaohsiung. Officials from the fire department in Taiwan said the blaze was extremely fierce and destroyed many floors.

Authorities say that 32 bodies were sent straight to the morgue from the site of the blaze. Another 14 people who showed no signs of life were among 55 taken to hospital.

In Taiwan, official confirmation of a death can only be made in the hospital.

According to officials, another search of the building was planned before sunset today to ascertain the number of dead and injured people.

Read also: Cars burnt as fire guts Federal Secretariat Complex Abuja

Taiwanese television reporting the news showed orange flames and smoke billowing out of the lower floors of the building as firefighters sprayed water at it from the street. A woman, who was not immediately identified, said her 60-to-70 year old parents were inside the building.

Eyewitnesses told Taiwan media that they heard an explosion around 3 a.m., Wednesday night, Nigerian time and the cause of the explosion was unclear.

The building is about 40 years old with shops on the lower levels and apartments above. The lower floors were completely blackened.

Firefighters were seen spraying water into the middle floors of the still-smoldering building from elevated platforms.

According to a report from the Taiwan fire department the flames burned most intensely where a lot of clutter had piled up.