The Ministry of Health and Welfare has activated its emergency response mechanism following the nation’s worst amusement park disaster, in which a fire broke out at New Taipei City’s Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park on Saturday night, leaving nearly 500 people injured.
“The ministry has activated an emergency medical case management system to allow hospitals to report information and conditions of patients they have treated,” Department of Medical Affairs Director Wang Tsung-hsi (王宗曦) said yesterday.
Wang said the agency has also requested the health bureaus in Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan — as well as all hospitals, burn wards and intensive care units in these cities — to prepare for more people in need of treatment.
Photo: Sam Yeh-AFP
Due to the potential need for skin grafts, the ministry has collaborated with the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center, the Taiwan Society of Plastic Surgery and other organizations specializing in burns to transport skin donations from the nation’s south, Wang said.
Wang made the remarks one day after the incident occurred on the main stage of the park at approximately 8:30pm on Saturday, when colored corn starch powders exploded at the party.
According to ministry data, a total of 498 people injured during the accident were rushed to 43 different hospitals for emergency treatment.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Of those, 202 sustained severe injuries, 157 suffered moderate injuries and 79 were mildly burned, with 60 others treated, the data showed.
“As of 1pm [yesterday], 419 people remained hospitalized, including 184 in intensive care units,” the ministry said.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital said 22 of the 43 people it treated were still in critical condition as of press time last night.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Eleven of them have been intubated and three sustained burns over nearly 90 percent of their bodies,” hospital deputy superintendent Hwang Shinn-jang (黃信彰) said, adding that the next 72 hours would be critical.
New Taipei City Fire Department Deputy Director Chen Chung-yueh (陳崇岳) said that the fire department is investigating whether the blasts were caused by a spark from overheating equipment or by lights used at the party, but did not rule out people smoking as the cause of the fire and the ensuing explosions.
“A fire investigation team inspected the scene of the accident again this morning [yesterday]. The park used a drained swimming pool as the main area for the party and a total of 28 powder spray guns were installed around the stage,” Chen said.
Photo: Sam Yeh -AFP
Chen added that it was possible the powder exploded without a spark if it had reached a certain density.
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office has seized the powder spray equipment and other evidence in an effort to discover the cause of the incident.
Five individuals were questioned by police on Saturday night, including the event’s organizer, Lu Chung-chi (呂忠吉), equipment provider Chiu Po-ming (邱柏銘), special effects engineer Liao Chun-ming (廖俊明) and two other staff responsible for spraying the powder.
They were referred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation yesterday morning on suspicion of gross negligence resulting in severe injury and offenses against public safety.
Separately yesterday, Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the Executive Yuan has banned the use of cornstarch powder at public events pending a safety evaluation and the drawing up of an act to govern the use of such substances.
“The Executive Yuan held an inter-ministerial meeting in the morning [yesterday] to discuss the handling of the accident and a task force has been established,” Mao said after visiting people injured by the blasts at National Taiwan University Hospital yesterday morning.
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said he has ordered the park to close, while requesting government agencies to investigate the incident and mobilize all medical resources available to offer the best care and treatment possible.
Chu said compensation of NT$10,000 is to be offered to those severely injured and NT$5,000 to those who sustained less serious injuries, adding that he telephoned Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — as well as the heads of Taipei’s and Taoyuan’s fire departments — after the accident to ask for their assistance.
“The park’s operations have been suspended while the government endeavors to determine the cause of the tragic event. There is no timetable for it being allowed to resume business,” Chu said on Saturday night.
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would speak to President William Lai (賴清德) as his administration considers whether to move ahead with a US$14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan — a potential arms deal that has drawn criticism from China. “Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters yesterday when asked if he had any plans to call his counterpart, although he did not offer a time frame for when such a conversation could take place. Trump previously said he would speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan,” without specifying who he meant. “We have that situation very
RSS