Two Chinese tourists missing since a magnitude 6.o earthquake hit the nation on Tuesday last week were confirmed dead yesterday, Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) said, raising the quake’s death toll to 17.
The pair were members of a family that had checked into the Beauty Inn (漂亮生活旅店) in the Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤) building.
Fu’s announcement came after authorities called off further search efforts in the building at about 10am, 106 hours after the earthquake shook Hualien city and county, as well as a wide swathe of northern Taiwan and the east coast.
Photo: CNA
A group of search-and-rescue personnel bowed in front of the building, one of four that partly collapsed in the city, as a mark of respect before teams withdrew from the site to allow heavy machinery to start razing the complex.
According to the county government, the two Chinese tourists had a room on the hotel’s second floor.
Three other family members were found on Saturday, when rescuers expanded the search area by excavating from the fourth floor down to the second.
Fu confirmed that the pair’s bodies were found at about 4am yesterday, but rescuers had not been able to remove them from the debris because they were under a fallen girder.
“Removing the girder would cause the rest of the building to collapse,” Fu said.
The county government eventually decided that rescuers using machinery should start removing one floor of the building at a time, starting from the top, until they reach the ground and can remove the girder, he said.
The decision was made after consultation with members of the Chinese Union of Professional Civil Engineers Association and other experts, Fu said, adding that the goal was to be able to remove the bodies in their entirety.
Family members of the victims had also consented to the arrangement, Fu said.
However, before work crews can begin removing the floors, prosecutors and criminal investigation experts must inspect each floor for materials and possible evidence in case charges are later filed over the building’s collapse.
Authorities are also planning to raze the three other buildings that partly collapsed or tilted after the quake — the Marshal Hotel (統帥飯店) and two apartment buildings on Guosheng 6th Street — as they are a threat to the safety of neighborhood residents, Fu said.
The goal is to have all four razed by Friday, the second day of the Lunar New Year holiday, Fu said, adding that the time needed to remove these buildings would also depend on the progress prosecutors make in their search of the building.
Removal work would continue around the clock during the holiday, he said.
In related news, a magnitude 4.2 quake struck at 3:39pm yesterday, with Yenliao Village (鹽寮) in Hualien County’s Shoufeng Township (壽豐) registering a 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
The hypocenter of the quake was 8km south-southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 15.4km, the bureau said.
Additional reporting by CNA
ONGOING PROBE: A former Military Intelligence Bureau colonel, major general and another colonel, as well as five other people, have been questioned by prosecutors The Taipei District Court yesterday ordered that a retired colonel from the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) calling himself Taiwan’s “first special agent” be detained and held incommunicado as part of an ongoing investigation into espionage allegations targeting at least three former bureau officials. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office was seeking to detain former MIB colonel Chang Chao-jan (張超然) over his alleged involvement in introducing retired agents to Chinese national security authorities and passing confidential documents to China. Chang’s actions, if proven, would contravene the National Security Act (國家安全法), which carries a prison term of three to 10 years, and the National Intelligence
The US House of Representatives’ China Task Force, launched by Republicans earlier this year, yesterday proposed the China task force act, a package of 137 pieces of legislation, seven of which involve Taiwan, in the hope of getting it passed before the 117th US Congress convenes on Jan. 3. The act encompasses a wide range of issues, including combatting Beijing’s influence around the globe, establishing the US’ dominance in determining 5G network standards and means for bringing UN members to task for abusing their influence within the UN system. The seven acts involving Taiwan address concerns such as the Taiwan Assurance Act
Chinese health authorities investigating a COVID-19 outbreak have said that they discovered live coronavirus on frozen food packaging, a finding that suggests the virus can survive in cold supply chains. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday said that it had found traces of live COVID-19 on the outer packaging of frozen cod in the eastern city of Qingdao, marking the first time that live coronavirus has been detected on the outside of refrigerated goods. Researchers were investigating the source of a cluster of cases linked to a hospital in Qingdao. Genetic traces had previously been found in samples of
A Chinese soldier apprehended earlier this week by the Indian Army after he strayed across a tense de facto border was on Tuesday night handed back to China, an Indian government source in New Delhi said yesterday. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier had on Monday been captured in the Demchok area of eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army said in a statement. The Chinese military also released a statement, saying that Corporal Wang Yalong was handed over early yesterday. New Delhi on Monday said that it had detained Wang after he crossed into Indian-controlled territory, while China announced that Wang had gotten
RSS