Twenty people were questioned late last night by the police as potential witnesses of the Taichung department store explosion earlier yesterday, prosecutors said.
An apparent gas explosion on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang department store in Taichung yesterday resulted in four deaths and 37 injuries as of 6am today, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
The Taichung City Police Department later in the day summoned 20 department store employees, construction workers and Shin Chung Natural Gas employees for questioning.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Sixteen of these people were then sent to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning and were released as witnesses, prosecutors said. The other four were allowed to leave without further questioning.
The party responsible for the incident is yet to be determined, as the scene and sequence of events are still under investigation, prosecutors said.
None of the people questioned have been named as defendants or had punishments imposed, they added.
Among the witnesses, two construction workers from the 12th floor construction site had both sustained injuries.
They had been working near the explosion site when the blast “suddenly occurred” and are unaware of any other details, they said.
Some construction workers say they smelled gas before the explosion, according to reports from the prosecutors’ office.
Shin Chung Natural Gas released a statement yesterday saying that the incident was unrelated to the company or natural gas.
In related news, extended family members of a Macau family that was injured by the explosion are traveling to Taiwan today, the Mainland Affairs Council said last night.
The family of seven was passing by the department store when they were struck by falling debris from the building due to the explosion.
The debris killed the family’s grandparents and seriously injured the two-year-old granddaughter, with the rest of the family incurring lighter injuries.
The Macau government was immediately informed of the incident, the council said.
Council personnel were also sent to Taichung to visit the injured, it added.
The government would assist with the family’s entry in Taiwan, visa situation, medical treatment, document verification, funeral arrangements and whatever else they require, the council said.
Macau Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai (岑浩輝) extended his deepest condolences to the families of those who died in the incident in a speech last night.
The relevant department should do their best to assist the injured and relatives of the deceased, he said.
Staff from Macau’s tourism crisis assistance team, accompanied by Macau Red Cross staff, have contacted the Macao family involved in the explosion to provide all necessary assistance, Macau’s Government Information Bureau said today.
The tourism crisis assistance team representatives arrived in Taichung yesterday evening, visiting the family members hospitalized due to the incident upon arrival, it said.
President William Lai (賴清德) expressed his deepest condolences to those affected by the explosion today.
Lai instructed Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to oversee relevant agencies in assisting the Taichung City Government to resolve any issues.
Cho said he would visit the Taichung-Changhua-Nantou Regional Branch of the Workforce Development Agency to hear briefings on the rescue and response efforts following the explosion.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi apologized to the public and accepted full responsibility for the incident in a statement this afternoon.
It would cooperate with the investigation and has established an emergency response team to assist the families of victims, affected employees and stores, the company said.
It would implement flexible working arrangements to ensure that employees’ salaries and benefits remain unaffected, it said.
The company also said it would compensate the families of those who died in the incident with NT$1 million (US$30,512).
Additional reporting by Chang Jui-chen and Su Meng-chuan
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