An inferno ripped through a printed circuit board factory in Taoyuan on Saturday night, killing five firefighters and two Thai workers, and injuring seven firefighters, the Taoyuan Fire Department said yesterday.
Fire Department Chief Hu Ying-ta (胡英達) said the department received a call at 9:26pm about a fire at the Chin-Poon Industrial Co (敬鵬工業) factory.
The department sent 189 firefighters, including 55 volunteers, and 67 fire trucks, as well as ambulances, Hu said.
Photo: Hsu Chuo-hsun, Taipei Times
An initial investigation showed that the fire started on the fifth floor of the third factory building, he said.
Firefighters arriving at the scene at 9:30pm learned that some workers were trapped inside, but their exact location was unknown, the department said, adding that the fire quickly spread on the factory’s first and second floors.
Firefighters led by captains Yu Yao-yang (游曜陽) and Lee Han-lin (李翰霖) entered the factory at 9:35pm, it said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Su Wen-yuan (蘇文遠), auxiliary captain at Taoyuan’s Shanfeng (山峰) fire department, said department group leader Chen Hung-chuan (陳宏銓) discovered at about 9:55pm that a furnace had split at the back of the factory, burning down the entire back wall, and that the building was about to collapse.
Chen ordered firefighters to exit the factory immediately, Su said, adding that firefighter Yu Yao-yang (游曜陽) had twice responded over the radio that he received the order, but was later trapped and could not escape the blaze.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who was at the scene to coordinate firefighting and relief efforts, said the firefighters died after becoming trapped under heavy machinery.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Some firefighters were also injured by acids or other chemicals stored at the factory, and have been hospitalized.
Lu Tsung-yu (呂宗郁), the first fireman to be rescued yesterday, was found at 00:50am and firefighter Lin Wei-hsi (林尉熙) was found at about 4am, the fire department said, adding that both were hospitalized in serious condition.
The fallen firefighters are: Yu, Lee, Lin Po-ting (林伯庭), Yu Po-yu (游博瑜) and Yu Chia-sheng (余佳昇), the department said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Information about the identities of the two migrant workers who died had yet to be disclosed, it said.
While the fire had been brought under control, the factory was still smoldering and plumes of smoke were still rising from the building at about 4:30pm, the Taoyuan Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Inspection section chief Chang Shu-hao (張書豪) said.
The factory passed a fire safety inspection on Dec. 21 last year, Hu said.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation, and the department said large amounts of various types of chemicals, including highly flammable and explosive materials, were stored at the factory.
Family members of the deceased firefighters visited the factory at 4pm, offering prayers and calling for the departed to “return home.”
The mother of firefighter Lee, who was 44, said he had prepared dinner for her before heading to work on Saturday.
She never thought that “Do not forget to heat up the food” would be his last words to her, she added.
Meanwhile, the environmental protection department yesterday said the inferno did not cause serious air pollution, but the company could face a fine of up to NT$3 million (US$101,228) for causing river pollution.
The chemical materials stored at the factory have leaked into sewage ducts, and water samples taken from under the Jhennan Bridge (鎮南橋) were found to have highly acidic pH yesterday morning, Chang said.
The Laojie Creek (老街溪) flowing through Pingjhen District (平鎮) and Jhongli District(中壢) was already polluted, he said, urging local residents not to use the river’s water.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan and Lee Jung-ping
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
RSS