A 51-year-old cab driver set himself on fire outside the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) building yesterday.
At about 3:30pm yesterday, Chen Pao-kuo (陳寶國) drove his taxi to the front of the MOJ building.
A security guard who had been at the front door thought the driver was dropping someone off, but when he went to open the car door, he discovered that the driver had poured liquid on himself and set himself on fire, police officers said.
Because Chen’s car had caught fire as well, he jumped out of his car, screaming and crying and rolling on the ground.
The guard used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames on the burning man before extinguishing the fire in the car.
By the time the fire had been put out, the man’s clothes had burned almost completely off, with layers of burnt skin hanging off as well. He suffered second-degree burns to 80 percent of his body, police said.
He was taken by ambulance to National Taiwan University Hospital where he remained in critical condition at press time.
An initial search of Chen’s car found a 3 liter gasoline container, which had about 1 liter of gas left after the incident. Chen left no message, police said.
“We have contacted his family and they said they have no idea why he would do such a thing,” said Lai Cheng-kuan (賴正寬), deputy director of the Taipei City Police Department’s Zhongzheng First Police District.
Lai said Chen Pao-kuo had spent 10 years and three months in jail for manslaughter, and his family said he had been paranoid and depressed ever since he got out of jail last month.
Because the MOJ building is connected to the Taipei District Court, where former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) detention hearing had been held in the morning, the police asked Chen Pao-kuo’s family about his political views in an effort to determine his motives.
However, Chen Pao-kuo’s older sister said her brother did not have any particular political leanings or attend political events, Lai said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS