Family members and friends are mourning the death of a firefighter squad leader who was killed while tackling a blaze at a residential building in Hsinchu County on Thursday morning.
Firefighter Yu Shang-hua (游尚樺) is thought to have died from smoke inhalation while on duty at a residential blaze in Hukou Township (湖口), Hsinchu County, after doctors’ attempts to resuscitate him failed, officials said.
Yu had been dispatched to tackle the blaze at about 7:30am, along with 11 firetrucks and 25 other firefighters, the bureau said.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu County Fire Bureau
Yu, a squad leader, became separated from his colleagues after entering the building on the second floor and was later found unconscious, the bureau added.
Four people were rescued from the third-floor balcony of the building, which primarily housed migrant workers, it added.
The four rescued individuals were all migrant workers and according to witnesses, the four left the scene of the blaze after declining to receive medical assistance.
The fire was extinguished at about 8:30am, the bureau said.
One of Yu’s colleagues, still wearing his firefighting gear, said he had rushed straight from the Hukou blaze to check on his squad leader in hospital.
Describing his death as “difficult to stomach,” the colleague described Yu as an “outgoing and kind” leader beloved by all of his colleagues.
As Yu’s body was taken directly from the hospital to the funeral home, firefighters and policy officers lined the route to pay their respects.
National Fire Agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) and Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) also arrived at the hospital to offer their condolences.
Hsiao said in a statement that he would cooperate with the local fire bureau to arrange for appropriate bereavement compensation.
Yu was an experienced firefighter, having previously served as head of the Zhuwei Branch in New Taipei City. He started his service in Hsinchu County last year.
An investigation into the exact cause of Yu’s death is ongoing, with Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) saying that the ministry would provide any help if needed.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS