The Kaohsiung City Government, LCY Chemical Corp (榮化) and China General Terminal and Distribution Corp (CGTD, 華運倉儲) have signed a tripartite agreement, with LCY Chemical Corp footing the bill for compensation for victims of the Kaohsiung gas explosions last year, the Kaohsiung City Government said.
On the night of July 31 and the early morning of Aug. 1 last year, gas pipelines running along and across major roads in Kaohsiung’s Lingya District (苓雅) exploded due to leaking propene gas. The explosions left 32 dead and 321 injured.
The Kaohsiung City Government undertook the responsibility to subrogate charges against LCY Chemical Corp and CTGD for the 3,187 victims in the aftermath of the incident.
Photo: Chang Chung-i, Taipei Times
LCY Chemical Corp and CTGD both pledged land estimated to be worth NT$2.5 billion (US$79.84 million) in market value as collateral and wrote a clause allowing the city government to claim the first NT$200 million as a payment if the properties were to be sold.
An investigation after the explosions showed the pipelines from CGTD to LCY Chemical Corp had been depressurized during the transportation of propene gas, causing LCY Chemical to call CGTD to say that it had not received the propene.
Kaohsiung City Government officials estimated that the failure of CGTD to realize that the depressurization of the pipes might signify a leak in the hours before the explosions caused more than 10 tonnes of propene gas to leak.
Of five pipelines belonging to LCY Chemical Corp, CPC Taiwan (中油), China Petrochemical Development Corp (CPDC, 中石化), Hsin Kao Gas Co and Hsin Hsiung Gas Co respectively, only the pipeline belonging to LCY Chemical Corp — located under Ersheng Road — exhibited a leak.
The city government said that the pipelines being enclosed in underground water culverts that triggered the explosions were installed from 1991 to 1994.
A Control Yuan report said that the city government had grossly neglected its duties, as over the 23 years since the culvert had been built there had been no repairs carried out, a finding the city government disputed, saying the culverts were too dangerous to repair.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office has since closed its investigation and charged three city government officials — Chao Chien-chiao (趙建喬), Chiu Ping-wen (邱炳文) and Yang Tsung-jen (楊宗仁) — who were involved in the building of the culverts in 1991 and 1992.
LCY Chemical Corp president Lee Chen Lan (李陳蘭), LCY Chemical Corp Dashe District (大社) plant head Wang His-chou (王溪洲) and the four night-shift personnel, as well as three CTGD personnel on duty that night, have been charged with causing fire unintentionally, negligent homicide on duty, negligently wounding another when on duty and negligently causing severe harm when on duty.
The family members of the 32 people who died in the explosions are to be given NT$12 million in compensation in installments over at most four years, while LCY Chemical Corp is to foot the bill and then split payments proportionately between LCY Chemical Corp, CTGD and the city government once the legal proceedings have concluded, the city government said.
Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Hsu Li-ming (許立明) said that while LCY Chemical Corp was in charge of the compensation fund, that did not mean the company had assumed the greatest legal responsibility in the case, which is still ongoing.
Additional reporting by CNA
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