The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday convicted 12 people of negligence causing death and other charges following a series of gas explosions that rocked Kaohsiung in 2014, handing out sentences ranging from four years to four years and 10 months, including to former LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化工) chairman Bowei Lee (李謀偉) and local government officials.
The rulings came after three years of questioning and testimony by 510 persons of interest, witnesses, experts and defendants, and involved the efforts of 12 prosecutors, a court statement said.
Lee was given a four-year sentence, while Kaohsiung City Government Secretary-General Chao Chien-chiao (趙建喬) was handed a four-year, 10-month prison term.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
It was the first ruling and it can be appealed.
Five LCY Chemical Corp employees, including a plant manager, supervisors and technicians in the control room, were also convicted of the charges and all received a four-year prison sentences.
Three employees of China General Terminal & Distribution Corp (CGTD, 華運倉儲) were also convicted and handed four-year, six-month sentences.
Two Kaohsiung Sewage System Office technicians, Yang Tsung-jen (楊宗仁) and Chiu Ping-wen (邱炳文), were found guilty of professional negligence and received the heaviest sentences, four-year, 10-month prison terms.
The series of underground explosions, which left 32 people dead and 321 injured, began in Kaohsiung’s Lingya (苓雅) and Cianjhen (前鎮) districts on July 31, 2014, following reports of gas leaks earlier that night.
The court found the 12 defendants guilty of negligence relating to leaking propene from underground pipelines that caused the blasts.
Following an investigation, an underground pipeline belonging to LCY was found to be corroded and the cause of the gas leak.
As a result, Lee and the five LCY employees were convicted for their roles in the incident, which prosecutors attributed to their failure to conduct proper maintenance on a regular basis.
Their failure to monitor the process properly also contributed to the explosions, the ruling said.
The court found Chao, who worked as an engineer in the Kaohsiung Sewage System Office when the blasts took place, and the two technicians working under him, guilty of negligence as they had signed off on an inspection of a culvert containing three pipelines without notifying the relevant companies to inspect them.
The extent to which the defendants sought to settle with the victims was a key point for the judges in determining the sentences, as each had sought to blame others and denied any personal responsibility, Chief Judge Yeh Wen-po (葉文博) said.
LCY paid NT$12 million (US$403,050) to the families of each of the 32 people killed in the blasts, a total of NT$384 million, in line with an agreement reached, Yeh said.
CGTD reached a compensation deal with 63 of the 321 people injured and has paid out more than NT$500 million, the court said.
The district court said it had not received any report from the Kaohsiung City Government indicating that it had reached an agreement with victims to compensate them for damage to their property, Yeh added.
Lee’s attorney said Lee would appeal the ruling.
Although the court handed down its ruling, it had failed to determine the “scientific truth” behind the explosions and Lee wants foreign experts to conduct an examination of the available evidence to determine the real reason for the explosions, which he denies were caused by LCY’s pipeline, the attorney added.
“This ruling is very unfair to me, so I will certainly appeal,” Chao 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
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
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
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from