Public prosecutors in Taipei yesterday indicted Lu Chung-chi (呂忠吉) over the inferno at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park on June 27, which resulted in 12 deaths and nearly 500 suffering burns.
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office charged Lu with professional negligence resulting in death and professional negligence causing bodily harm.
The office did not indict Formosa Fun Coast water park chairman Chen Po-ting (陳柏廷), general manager Chen Hui-ying (陳慧潁) or administrative director Lin Yu-fen (林玉芬).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Prosecutors also did not indict five other individuals who were summoned for questioning during the investigation, all of whom are employees of event promoter Juipo International Marketing Co (瑞博國際整合行銷): manager Chou Hung-wei (周宏瑋); hardware technician Chiu Po-ming (邱柏銘); special effects technician Liao Chun-ming (廖俊明); and Shen Hao-jan (沈浩然) and Lu Chien-yu (廬建佑), who were responsible for operating equipment at the event.
An explosion of powder and the resulting inferno were caused by dense concentrations of sprayed cornstarch that came into contact with the incandescent bulbs used for stage lighting, which had a surface temperature of more than 400oC, the indictment cited fire department investigators as saying.
The three water park executives were not indicted because the cause of the explosion had nothing to do with the park’s firefighting and safety equipment, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chen Hsi-chu (陳錫柱) said, adding that the park had passed a facility safety and emergency service inspection by New Taipei City Government agencies.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Furthermore, Lu had a rental agreement with the water park’s proprietors, in which he rented the swimming pool and surrounding areas for the Color Play Asia party, which took place after the park’s standard business hours.
“As it was a rental agreement to use parts of the premises, there was no splitting of the event’s profit and no business relationship exists between Lu’s company and the park’s proprietors,” Chen said.
According to the terms of the rental agreement, Lu was responsible for maintaining public safety, and onsite firefighting and safety equipment, which absolved Formosa Fun Coast’s proprietors of blame, the prosecutors said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Eighty-six people sustained serious burns and 383 received less-serious injuries, prosecutors said, adding that 16 of them were foreign nationals from the US, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, China, Macau or Hong Kong.
“Due to the defendant’s actions and negligence, the event ended with a significant number of fatalities and injuries. Therefore, we are requesting severe punishment in this case,” the prosecutors 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