The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office today said that it has summoned 50 witnesses in the Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi explosion case, but did not confirm a Liberty Times report that the gas valve on site had not been shut off.
An exclusive report today from the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) said that the gas meter had been removed and the gas valve had not been shut off at the department store on the day of the incident.
The office did not confirm the report, saying that a comprehensive investigation into all parties with potential criminal liability is ongoing.
Photo: Taipei Times
In a news release today, prosecutors confirmed that they summoned 50 witnesses, including on-site workers as well as representatives from Shin Chung Natural Gas Co and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, to clarify the cause of the gas explosion.
Some of the witnesses had already been listed as defendants, and subsequent investigations would be conducted to clarify any criminal liability as soon as possible, prosecutors said.
The explosion at the department store on Feb. 13 left five dead and more than 30 injured.
In an investigation report released at the end of last month, the Taichung Fire Bureau confirmed the explosion was caused by gas and found evidence including cigarette butts, electrical wires, a gas pipe and a circular saw.
Prosecutors said they formed a special task force to analyze the bureau’s report.
The office is investigating based on all collected evidence, including looking into parties with potential criminal liability such as operators, contractors and construction teams, it said.
The scope of accountability would only be determined once the investigation is complete, it added.
As of yesterday, the investigation team had entered the site nine times and interrogated 50 witnesses a total of 64 times, prosecutors said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
RSS