Three Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) employees were yesterday questioned on suspicion of causing a massive blackout earlier this month and released on bail of NT$150,000 each, prosecutors said.
The three workers are suspected of failing to properly check the systems at Kaohsiung’s Hsinta Power Plant (興達電廠) before testing them, which triggered a blackout affecting about 5.49 million households across Taiwan on March 3 and endangered public safety, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The employees allegedly turned on a main switch without first confirming whether it was properly insulated with sulfur hexafluoride, an insulation gas, prosecutors said.
Without the protection of the insulation gas, an explosion occurred, damaging equipment and causing the outage, they said.
The trio are suspected of violating Articles 176 and 188 of the Criminal Code, which deals with offenses affecting public safety, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
While prosecutors decided not to detain the three, they were each required to post bail of NT$150,000, pending further investigation, the prosecutors’ office said.
In a March 9 report on the blackout, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which oversees state-run Taipower, said the insulation gas had been removed from the main switch on March 2 after workers at the plant had found moisture in an adjacent switch.
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