A lawyer filed a complaint with the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office against Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) on Monday, accusing her of malfeasance that led to heavy casualties in the July 31 and Aug. 1 gas pieline explosions.
Hung Tiau-ken (洪條根) said the Kaohsiung Fire Bureau was first notified of suspected gas leaks on Kaisyuan Road and Ersheng Road in Cianjhen District (前鎮) at 8:46pm on July 31, and that small fires and gas explosions occurred before major explosions struck just before midnight.
Hung said he filed the complaint in the hope that prosecutors would investigate whether there was any dereliction of duty on Chen’s part during the three-hour interval, instead of just looking into the actions of lower-ranking officials.
“What did the city government do before the major disaster occurred?” he asked. “Was Chen alerted early, but failed to do anything about it, which would be negligence in itself?”
He said that China General Terminal and Distribution Corp (CGTD) stopped sending propene, also known as propylene, to LCY Chemical Corp through LCY Chemical’s pipeline at about 9:30pm after detecting leaks, but started sending the raw material again one hour later.
The LCY Chemical pipeline is suspected of leaking propene and triggering the devastating blasts.
Hung characterized the mayor’s actions as a failure to lead during the one-hour interval, alleging that she instead “allowed government departments to work separately and in disarray.”
On Monday, prosecutors summoned seven suspects from LCY Chemical and CGTD for questioning.
The prosecutors allege that the suspects did not observe standard operating procedures on July 31. Prosecutors say they are investigating whether the suspects violated a rarely cited offense against public safety contained in the Criminal Code — causing a fire through negligence that led to an explosion.
The seven were ordered to be released on bail, with amounts ranging from NT$500,000 to NT$2 million (US$16,650 to US$66,600).
LCY Chemical section chief and duty official Tsai Yung-chien (蔡永堅), engineer Shen Ming-hsiu (沈銘修), operator Huang Chin-ming (黃進銘) and shift foreman Lee Jui-lin (李瑞麟) were ordered to be released on bail ranging between NT$1 million and NT$2 million.
CGTD operator Hung Kuang-lin (洪光林), shift foreman Huang Chien-fa (黃建發) and engineer Chen Chia-heng (陳佳亨) were ordered to be released on bail ranging from NT$500,000 to NT$1 million.
On Friday last week, prosecutors and petrochemical experts went to the two companies to see whether the procedures used to send propylene on the night of the explosions followed standard operating procedures.
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