Four people on Wednesday were killed in a fire at a COVID-19 quarantine hotel in Changhua County, including a firefighter who died after their oxygen tank ran out while sheltering in a bathroom in the burning facility, the Changhua Fire Bureau said yesterday.
The fire broke out at 7:52pm on the second floor of the 15-story Chiaoyu Building, the bureau said, adding that the flames spread rapidly and filled the structure with smoke, trapping 31 people.
The former department store, housing the hotel on the seventh to ninth floors, is considered a local landmark.
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
The bureau scrambled 166 firefighters and 58 trucks, the bureau said.
Heat, thick smoke, darkness and the facility’s complex interiors made the firefighting operation difficult, the bureau said, adding that it took nine hours to put out the blaze.
The last survivor trapped inside the building was evacuated at 3:50am yesterday, the Changhua County Government said, adding that first responders had quickly established a list of people suspected to be inside the building.
Those were 27 people under mandatory quarantine, two staying at the hotel while monitoring their health, as well as two hotel employees, it added.
Hotel owner Tsai Chin-feng (蔡進峰) said that two floors in the building were vacant and used for storing carpets left behind by a former occupant who ran an entertainment business in the building.
The structure was opened in 1993, initially housing a shopping center and a video arcade, but fire hazards reported over the past few years led to many occupants leaving the site.
Tsai said that he had renovated the seventh to ninth floors to run a hotel with 74 rooms, in the past few months housing people under mandatory quarantine.
When the fire alarm rang on Wednesday night, Tsai ordered staff to check every floor and told guests to stay inside their rooms until firefighters arrived, he said.
Leaving the building to get an overview of the situation, Tsai saw smoke coming from the second floor, he said, adding that he helped some guests leave the building via emergency stairs filled with thick smoke.
The Ministry of the Interior said that an investigation has been opened into the fire, adding that one injured firefighter has been transferred from a local hospital’s intensive care unit to a general ward.
National Fire Agency Deputy Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) has traveled to Changhua to learn about the incident and give condolences to the dead firefighter’s family, the ministry said.
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is Central Epidemic Command Center spokesman, said that people who leave their mandatory quarantine in the case of a fire at a centralized facility would not be fined for doing so.
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju
Indonesia has sent hundreds of riot police to a tiny island after protests broke out against a China-backed project that would displace thousands of residents. About 1,000 people protested in Batam City on Monday over a plan to develop Rempang island into a Chinese-funded economic zone, including the construction of a multibillion-dollar glass factory, that would displace about 7,500 people. Some protesters clashed with security forces outside a government agency, wielding machetes, Molotov cocktails and stones, police said, adding that dozens were arrested. Beijing has poured money into infrastructure and resource projects in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and its investments have previously caused
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
China would be making “a grave strategic mistake” if it tried to attack Taiwan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said in an interview with CNN that aired on Sunday. Asked by host Fareed Zakaria whether the US could repel a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Milley said: “It is entirely possible.” Milley reiterated that the US still maintains the Taiwan Relations Act, and that it wants “a peaceful outcome between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, and whatever that is between those two peoples.” “Militarily, I think China would make a grave strategic mistake if they attempted to
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
RSS