Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his three deputy mayors yesterday bowed and apologized to the public for ineffective fire safety inspections that failed to prevent a fire that broke out at Cashbox Partyworld KTV (錢櫃) on Taipei’s Linsen N Road on Sunday morning, leaving five dead and dozens injured.
“We are not only apologizing, we also feel ashamed,” Ko said at a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taipei City Council caucus.
Cashbox had previously passed 20 fire safety inspections, but four of its six branches in Taipei failed an unscheduled inspection after the incident, he said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
It means that the inspection mechanism is ineffective, Ko said, adding that the city government would re-examine loopholes in the system.
Five fire protection systems in the building were found to have been turned off before the incident and four other Cashbox branches failed the city’s unscheduled fire safety inspections on Monday, officials said.
They ordered Cashbox to suspend operations and improve the situation within three days.
Three branches were each fined NT$120,000, while a branch of Party KTV (星聚點) and two movie theaters were also ordered to suspend operations after failing inspections.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that the city government would complete fire safety inspections of 70 enclosed recreational spaces in the city by tomorrow, as well as re-examine related fire safety regulations.
The Fire Services Act (消防法) only allows the Taipei Fire Department to ask venues that have failed inspections to improve the situation within a given period, but it cannot order them to suspend operations, Huang said, adding that the city was forced to invoke the Administrative Enforcement Act (行政執行法).
The city government said that it would also assemble a legal support team to assist victims of the incident and their families in negotiating compensation with Cashbox.
The Taipei Department of Legal Affairs yesterday held a meeting with Cashbox and insurance company representatives to discuss compensation.
NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: The KMT urged the CECC to exclude Taiwanese from the arrivals cap, as they would lose their right to vote if they could not return by July 26 The COVID-19-related border control measures and the cap on the number of international arrivals are not being eased, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported 112 imported cases of the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is CECC spokesperson, said a meeting was held yesterday morning in which the Cabinet decided that current border control measures would remain in place. He said the main considerations were global COVID-19 cases increasing 21 percent last week, imported cases of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 continuing to be detected
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung (張學友) has been criticized by the “Little Pink” — a term used to describe young, jingoistic Chinese nationalists on the Web — for saying “Hong Kong jia you [加油, an expression of encouragement].” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule on Friday, China Central Television made a series of programs in which it interviewed Cheung and other celebrities. Cheung, speaking in Cantonese, said in the interview that “Hong Kong has been through a lot in the past 25 years, including ups and downs” and ended with the phrase “Hong
‘STRONG SUPPORT’: Liberal International expressed concern over Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace, saying they could undermine regional peace Liberal International on Saturday passed a “World Today Resolution” recognizing the threat that China poses to Taiwan, while supporting Taipei’s inclusion in international organizations. Liberal International was established in 1947 as a federation of liberal political parties from around the world. Last week, it held its 63rd congress in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was attended by 221 representatives from 58 countries. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in her capacity as chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), delivered a speech in a pre-recorded video at the congress’ opening on Thursday. DPP spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) yesterday said the party, which has been a member of
RSS