A big fire early yesterday morning raged through two four-story apartment buildings in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), killing four people and leaving another in critical condition, the Taipei Fire Department said.
Shortly after the fire erupted at about 6:40am on the second floor of one of the buildings, the fire department dispatched 22 fire trucks, 2 aerial ladder trucks and 13 ambulances to Huaxi Street.
The street, near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), is an old neighborhood with many decades-old buildings.
The fire quickly spread from the second floor to the other floors of the two buildings, Taipei Fire Department section chief Huang Chien-hua (黃建華) said, adding that 104 firefighters and medical personnel were rushed to the scene to rescue nine people trapped in the buildings.
Nine people were rescued, but four of them died, including a 70-year-old woman, Huang said.
The other three killed were men, the fire department said.
Of the five survivors, one was in critical condition, and another’s heartbeat and breathing resumed after resuscitation attempts by first responders, while two women and one man sustained only minor injuries, Huang said, adding that firefighters also evacuated six other people from the buildings.
Taipei firefighters extinguished the fire by 7:30am, Huang said.
A restaurant was on the first and second floors, while the other floors held rental apartments, the fire department said.
No one was in the restaurant when the fire started, but the fire quickly reached the third and fourth floors, where tenants lived in a space divided into 16 to 20 rooms, Huang said.
Further investigation is needed to determine the cause of the fire and to assess the damage, he added.
The fire was likely caused by sparks from electrical wires, the fire department said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as