Prosecutors yesterday indicted 13 people, including a department store manager and contractors, over a deadly gas explosion at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang store in Taichung in February that killed five people and injured 35.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said the Feb. 13 blast was caused by layers of negligence during renovation work, including a failure to fully shut off gas supplies, inadequate safety checks and an absence of required permits.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, as a nationwide retail chain, should have upheld the highest safety standards, but systemic management failures led to the most serious industrial incident in Taiwan’s department store history, prosecutors said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The store allowed contractors to begin after-hours renovation work on Feb. 9 without obtaining interior renovation permits or a construction-period fire safety plan, they said in the indictment.
The store manager, surnamed Hsu (許), failed to verify the status of the 12th-floor main gas valves and pipelines before work began, prosecutors said.
A deputy manager, an employee from the store’s development division and a renovation contractor also failed to ensure the site was free of gas hazards, they said.
Investigators said they found that a gas leak detection system above the ceiling had been removed before construction began, with no alternative measures put in place.
Although Shin Chung Natural Gas Co removed some gas meters and sealed some pipes on Feb. 10, residual gas remained in other branch pipelines, prosecutors said.
On Feb. 13, an excavator was used to dismantle ceiling structures without adequate protection, despite gas pipes being embedded nearby, they said.
The machine accidentally tore down a main gas pipe and branch lines, allowing gas to accumulate above the ceiling, they said.
Unaware of the leak, an electrician later used a powered cable cutter on the floor, producing sparks that ignited the gas and triggered the explosion, they added.
The 13 defendants and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co (新光三越百貨) were indicted on charges including negligent homicide, negligent injury and contraventions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法).
While the company has reached settlements with some victims, prosecutors said the negligence was serious and that the defendants attempted to deflect responsibility after the incident.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi said it respects the prosecution’s decision and would cooperate fully with judicial proceedings.
The Taichung store resumed operations on Sept. 27 after safety upgrades following a city government-ordered suspension.
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