An early morning collapse of an makeshift platform at a Buddhist temple in central Taiwan left more than 180 injured, according to rescue officials.
The accident occurred at around 5:40am yesterday morning at Nantou County's Lingyen Mountain Temple.
Of the injured, 18 were said to be in critical condition and were promptly sent to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.
PHOTO: TUNG CHEN-KUO, TAIPEI TIMES
At least three people have been placed in intensive care at local hospitals.
Cause of the accident
While the cause of the accident is still under investigation, the Nantou County fire department said that it was likely the stand was unable to support the weight that had been placed on it.
The Central News Agency reported yesterday that roughly 400 people had been on the platform when the stand collapsed.
The platform was about 4m high.
Gathering
About 800 pilgrims from all over Taiwan and abroad had gathered at the temple for a week-long Buddhist ritual.
The platform had been set up for a group picture to commemorate the event.
Temple representatives yesterday said that the platform was supposed to have been able to support the weight of up to 1,000 people.
Temple representatives also said that the temple had set up a platform for similar purposes in the past with no problems.
Investigation
Nantou prosecutors have already begun an investigation into whether the mishap was the result of negligence.
People were being rescued from the rubble throughout the day yesterday.
Some reports in the media putting the tally of injured as high as 198 at around 5pm last night.
Vice Minister of the Interior Lin Join-sane (林中森) rushed to the site of the accident yesterday around noon and visited those who had been hospitalized.
The Ministry of Interior said that it would provide the three intensive care patients with compensation of up to NT$10,000 each.
Other injured parties who were hospitalized are expected to receive approximately NT$3,000 in compensation.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai