Charges including negligent homicide would be considered in the investigation of a Taichung mall explosion last month that killed five people, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Among the people who were killed in an explosion at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung on Feb. 13 was a two-year-old girl from Macau who died on Friday last week.
The Macau Special Administrative Region Government offered its condolences to the family in a statement today, and said it is providing psychological support and bereavement counseling.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
The prosecutors’ office said that it has so far questioned 33 witnesses, but has not yet named any suspects.
Due to the large scale and complex nature of the explosion site, prosecutors would wait for the official Taichung Fire Bureau report before pursuing legal action, the office said.
In the meantime, the office would continue to communicate closely with the bereaved family in Macau and their lawyers, it said.
The case would be investigated under potential charges of negligent homicide, public endangerment and negligent injury, it said.
The fire bureau would cooperate with the investigation led by the prosecutors’ office, with assistance from the National Fire Agency to discover the cause of the explosion, Taichung Fire Bureau Chief Sun Fu-yu (孫福佑) said.
The bureau has already conducted 11 on-site investigations and has five items undergoing forensic examination by the National Fire Agency and the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Sun said.
Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store today released a statement offering its deepest condolences for the passing of the two-year-old girl and said it would continue to provide support to the family.
The vacationing family of seven from Macau were walking past the mall when the explosion happened, killing both grandparents at the scene.
The two-year-old girl was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition.
On Feb. 26 she was transferred to a hospital in Macau, where she died.
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