A Taiwanese tourist was among three people in critical condition yesterday after a rush-hour arson attack on a Hong Kong metro train on Friday night, officials said, with one man with a history of mental illness arrested for the crime.
A total of 18 people were injured in the incident, which occurred at 7:15pm on Friday, while Hong Kong police said they had seized suspected liquid accelerants from the scene.
Police have ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack and said the man acted alone, with investigators looking into his mental state.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Except for the Taiwanese woman, all of the injured are residents of the territory.
“We visited a female tourist from Taiwan, her condition is still considered critical and is in intensive care,” Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung (張建宗) told reporters.
“To our knowledge, she has a friend in Hong Kong, and that friend has notified her family and that they are on their way to the city,” said Cheung, the territory’s No. 2 official.
He said that the woman, later identified as 38-year-old Chang Hsin-ju (張欣茹), was unable to communicate with others.
Chang was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where doctors said she suffered burns to 20 percent of her body, including her face, one hand and legs.
It would not be appropriate for her to be sent back to Taiwan for continued treatment until she can breathe on her own, they added.
Chang’s family members were yesterday afternoon scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong to visit her, and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong officials visited her on Friday night after the incident and were standing by to provide assistance.
Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man (高永文) said the three victims in critical condition were on breathing apparatuses.
The suspect has a history of mental illness, Ko told reporters, adding: “In the long term, his condition was stable, but recently he was supposed to receive treatment, but he missed it.”
Video footage showed chaos on a platform of packed Tsim Sha Tsui Station, with a train carriage on fire and one man lying on the floor with his clothes ablaze as bystanders tried to help him.
Images broadcast on Cable TV Hong Kong also showed multiple people with burns being tended to by emergency personnel.
The TV station also reported that a 15-year-old high-school girl sustained burns to her legs.
“I heard loud cries, and the smell of the fumes didn’t smell like a normal fire — it had a chemical smell,” an eyewitness surnamed Chow (周) told reporters at the scene. “Once I inhaled it, it burned the throat.”
Police said they had arrested a 60-year-old man surnamed Cheung (張) for arson.
“The mental condition of the arrested person is one of [the] directions of [the] police’s investigation,” a government statement said yesterday.
Reports said the suspect was not on good terms with his family and had previously been arrested for minor crimes, such as gambling.
The South China Morning Post had earlier reported that the man tried to light a Molotov cocktail and said “burn you to death” before he took out the bottle.
Cable TV Hong Kong reported that the man had loudly said that some people had harmed his son and he needed to take revenge and that he had doused his trousers with thinner.
Local media said the suspect was among those in critical condition, but police would not confirm the reports.
Tsim Sha Tsui Station, which services a popular shopping and nightlife district, was evacuated following the incident, with trains skipping the station on Friday night.
It was reopened yesterday morning.
It was a rare incident in the Asian finance hub, where the transport network is known for its safety and efficiency.
In 2004, 14 people were injured on the metro when a man started a fire in another busy station during the morning rush hour.
Additional reporting by CNA
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS