The Kaohsiung City Government Department of Health is ready to deliver skin donations from cadavers to hospitals in northern Taiwan that are treating people injured in Saturday’s suspected dust explosion at an amusement park in New Taipei City, a city official said yesterday.
The department and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, where the donated skin is stored, are standing by for the deployment of the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center, a department division head surnamed Wang (王) said.
Almost 500 people were hurt during the explosion and fire at Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸), a water park in New Taipei City’s Bali District, with many suffering from severe and extensive burns. The demand for skin transplants is expected to surge, Wang said.
Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Derek Chen (陳金德) said that the city government was willing to share its experiences on handling reparations or subrogation of lawsuits for the members of the public, adding that the municipal Department of Health would be glad to help with any needed skin transplants.
Kaohsiung experienced a series of gas pipeline explosions on July 31 and Aug. 1 last year that ripped up entire sections of asphalt and wrecked buildings, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300. The blasts were linked to leaks in a section of an underground pipeline owned by LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學).
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
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