The number of fatalities from the June 27 fire at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park rose to 13, after a 20-year-old man died at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital yesterday afternoon.
Wang Wei-po (王韋博), a student at Fu Jen Catholic University’s Sport Recreation Management Program, suffered burns to 70 percent of his body in the fire.
On June 28, Wang underwent an emergency escharotomy, a surgical incision into a burn scar intended to lessen its pull on the surrounding tissue, on all four limbs.
He also underwent several debridement surgeries.
Over the past four months, Wang developed multiple complications, including infections, pneumonia, bacteremia, septic shock and kidney failure, the hospital said.
Wang, son of Formosa Fun Coast Water Park Victims’ Family Coalition spokeswoman Tang Mei-na (唐美娜), was treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation earlier this month, but died of cardiorespiratory failure at 12:10pm, it said.
Wang was among the 508 people injured in the fire at the park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里). The disaster occurred when colored cornstarch powder dispensed into the crowd exploded into flames, engulfing partygoers, most of them in their teens and 20s, in a wall of fire.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital took 43 of the victims, including six who had sustained burns to more than 80 percent of their bodies. Nine patients remain in critical condition, it added.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that as of yesterday, 44 victims remain hospitalized nationwide, including 11 in intensive care units and nine who are listed as terminally ill.
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