The Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) disaster on Saturday night claimed its first fatality yesterday as a badly burned 20-year-old woman was taken off life support at Chung Shan Medical University Hospital in Taichung.
Lee Pei-yun (李珮筠), who had just graduated from National Taichung Home Economics and Commercial High School on June 10, suffered second-degree burns over 90 percent of her body.
She was removed from life support with her parents’ consent yesterday afternoon, hospital public relations officer Hsieh Ching-lang (謝金琅) said.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
She had been transferred from Cathay General Hospital’s Sijhih Branch in New Taipei City to Chung Shan and put on life support, Hsieh said.
Her 12-year-old brother, a recent elementary-school graduate whose name the Taipei Times is not publishing because he is a minor, suffered burns to 80 percent of his body.
He had also been treated initially at the Sijhih hospital, but yesterday was tranferred to Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
Photo taken from Facebook
“I’ve lost my daughter, please, please help save my son,” their distraught mother cried outside the Taipei hospital.
The sister and brother were reportedly standing close to the stage at the water park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) when the fire erupted at about 8:30pm on Saturday.
Their father, Lee Ming-chi (李明基), an oil vendor, wrote on Facebook: “They are my sweethearts. Please, Buddha, I kneel before you. Do not take them away.”
Photo taken from Facebook
A person who identified themself as a friend of Lee Ming-chi quoted him on Facebook as saying: “I express my heartfelt gratitude for everybody’s support. I really appreciate our friends’ help. Little sister has just gone. Pei-yun is now a little angel and will not feel the pain anymore. Remember to look for Dad and Mom in your next life.”
The family said that Lee Pei-yun had been looking forward to the Color Play Asia party for months and shared event information online early last month, writing that she would “eat the flour [colored powder] fanatically.”
The siblings were very close, the family said.
Lee Pei-yun had posted many photographs of them together on Facebook and ahead of Saturday’s party she posted: “[We] are going to the party and [I] feel relaxed.”
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the city government would help the Lee family arrange Lee Pei-yun’s funeral and obtain assistance from social workers and compensation from those who are responsible for the incident.
Lin announced Lee Pei-yun’s death on Facebook and telephoned the family to express his condolences.
He also urged the public to pray for all those injured in the fire.
The mayor said that he had ordered the city government to review safety regulations, redouble safety inspections of popular venues and large events, inventory its medical resources and reinforce its emergency response mechanism.
National Taichung Home Economics and Commercial High School officials said Lee Pei-yun had majored in food management and graduated third in her class, adding that she was a talented student and popular with her peers.
She had posted a celebratory message on Facebook on her graduation day: “I have waited for five years. Five years. Finally.”
The Taipei City Government yesterday announced a new total — 494 — of the number of people injured in the fire, which appears to have erupted when colored powder exploded during a stage show.
As of 6pm yesterday, 439 remained hospitalized in 48 hospitals, including 211 in intensive care, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS