Eight foreigners were injured in an explosion at a water park in New Taipei City on Saturday that caused nearly 500 injuries and one death, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Among the foreigners, one is from the UK, one from the US, two from Japan, two from Malaysia, one from South Africa and one from Singapore, ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said at a news briefing.
The figure released by the ministry does not include four people from China and Hong Kong who were also injured in the blast.
Photo courtesy of a member of Chen’s family
The South African suffered only minor injuries and left the hospital after being treated, Kao said.
The Singaporean has returned home to receive further medical care, while the rest remain hospitalized in Taiwan.
The ministry said it has sent officials to the representative offices of these countries to convey their sympathies and to visit some of the injured.
The accident occurred on Saturday, when colored cornstarch powder being sprayed into the audience exploded and burst into flames at the Color Play Asia party held at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park in the city’s Bali District (八里).
According to the latest statistics released by the city’s health department late on Monday, the number of people injured in the fire was revised down to 494 — five less than the number counted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Monday morning.
The injured, including 211 under intensive care, were being treated at 48 hospitals in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Hsinchu, Changhua and Kaohsiung.
One of the seriously injured — 20-year-old Lee Pei-yun (李珮筠) — died at Chung Shan Medical University Hospital in Taichung after being taken off a ventilator earlier on Monday.
The department is establishing the personal data of all the injured to provide follow-up treatment and services information. The department also provides information on ICU beds still available nationwide on its official Web site at 117.56.4.214/informationlist.aspx?uid=721.
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