Twenty-five people injured in an explosion on a train traveling to Songshan Railway Station on Thursday night were taken to six different hospitals in the city for emergency treatment, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.
As of press time last night, 10 had been discharged.
Of the 25 injured, six were taken to Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxiao Branch, five to Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH), four to the Tri-Services General Hospital in Neihu District (內湖), two to Cathay General Hospital, three to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and five to Tri-Services General Hospital in Songshan District (松山).
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Six people were taken to intensive care units — one at Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxiao Branch, two at Tri-Services General Hospital in Neihu District and three at TMUH.
TMUH yesterday morning said that three patients who were seriously injured were still being treated in the intensive care unit, including a 55-year-old man who had been intubated after inhalation injuries and second to third-degree burns over 13 percent of his body. The man was later identified by police as a likely suspect in the case.
A 39-year-old man with second-degree burns covering his hands and knees, totaling between 10 and 15 percent of his body, and a 37-year-old woman with hearing damage and second-degree burns on her legs, totaling about 15 percent of her body, remained in intensive care, TMUH deputy superintendent Huang Tsung-jen (黃聰仁) said.
A 14-year-old boy with burns covering 30 percent of his body was in intensive care at Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxiao Branch. The patient was conscious with stable vital signs, hospital chief medical officer Hong Shih-chi (洪士奇) said.
Tri-Services General Hospital in Neihu District said its patients in intensive care were a 24-year-old man with second-degree burns covering 20 percent of his body, who had also been intubated because of inhalation injuries, and a 17-year-old boy with second-to-third-degree burns on his limbs that covered 18 percent of his body.
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said its three patients were all discharged.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) visited Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxiao Branch to check on those injured in the blast, which occurred around 10pm on Thursday night.
Ko said the city’s emergency medical care capacity is sufficient to take care of the needs of the injured passengers, adding that the Taipei Department of Social Welfare has deployed workers to all hospitals and that they would be available to all injured passengers and their families.
He said the city government would increase its patrols on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) System in the coming days.
The Taipei Police Department said it had added 94 officers to its usual MRT staffing levels at stations and in commuter carriages.
Officers were divided into three brigades and deployed at 12 major MRT stations, including Taipei City Hall, Zhongxiao Fuxing, Zhongshan, Ximen, Gongguan and Taipei Main Station, the department said.
It said it had also asked the New Taipei City Police Department to reinforce its patrols at MRT stations.
The Ministry of Education said that eight students and one school employee were among those injured.
Two students are from Taipei Municipal Chenggong Senior High School, two from Taipei Municipal Xingya Junior High School, one from New Taipei City Municipal Xiufeng High School, one from National Keelung Girls’ Senior High School, one from the Taipei College of Maritime Technology and one from New Taipei City’s Jinshan Elementary School Affiliated Kindergarten, as well as an employee at New Taipei City’s Yu Chang Technical and Vocational Senior High School, the ministry said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique