Taipei hospice fire claims 9, 30 injured
Print Edition
Nine people were killed and 30 injured in a blaze that broke out early yesterday at a hospice for the terminally ill near Taipei, officials said.
All of the 44 people inside, including 33 patients, were evacuated after the fire started at the hospice on the seventh floor of a nine-story hospital in New Taipei city.
Sixteen patients had cardiac arrests and seven were revived. The other nine died with the cause of death given as smoke inhalation, according to the local fire department.
New Taipei fire department official Hung Liang-chien told reporters an initial probe showed that the fire was likely caused by the short circuit of an electrical device.
“We are clarifying whether it’s the power cable of the hospital’s electric bed or an air cushion bed brought in by relatives” of a patient, he said.
One caregiver working in the hospice reported seeing a spark on the bed where the fire started, according to local media.
Local fire chief Huang Te-ching denied reports the sprinkler system had malfunctioned. “The sprinkler device was on but there’s some distance between its location and where the fire started so the fire couldn’t be immediately put out.”
He added that authorities were also examining why there was a nine-minute delay by the hospital in reporting the fire.
CCTV footage on local media showed staff rushing through the hospice corridors, carrying patients out in their arms or in wheelchairs to evacuate them after the fire broke out.
There have been nine hospital fires in Taiwan in the past decade claiming 37 lives.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
