In this image taken from video by Taiwan's EBC, firefighters battle a blaze at a building in Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. A fire engulfed a 13-story building overnight in southern Taiwan, the island’s semi-official Central News Agency reported Thursday. (EBC via AP )
By Huizhong Wu
At least 46 people were killed and another 41 injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a decades-old mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said.
Neighborhood residents said the 13-story building was home to many poor, elderly and disabled people and it wasn’t clear how many of the 120 units were occupied.
Witnesses said they heard something that sounded like an explosion at about 3 a.m. when the blaze erupted in the building's lower floors, which housed a closed movie theater, abandoned restaurants and karaoke clubs.
Lin Chie-ying said she was awoken in her home across from the fire by the sounds of ambulances and fire trucks.
“I thought our home would burn up too,” she said.
The apartment building is one of many in the Yancheng district, an older part of Kaohsiung, a city of some 2.8 million people in southwestern Taiwan.
“For the families and Yancheng, I feel incomparable pain and I blame myself deeply,” Mayor Chen Chi Mai said at a news conference, bowing in apology. “Here I want to express my deepest sorrow to all the wounded and those who died, as well as their families and all the residents.”
It took firefighters until after 7 a.m. to extinguish the blaze. Many of the upper floors appeared not to have been damaged directly.
Late in the day, the smell of smoke still lingered throughout the area and the sound of shattering glass rang. Construction workers were raised on a crane to break out the remaining glass from window frames with a crowbar to remove further hazard.
Throughout Thursday, first responders pored through the wreckage and recovered dozens of bodies. Another 14 of 55 taken initially to the hospital were confirmed dead on arrival or shortly after.
The building’s age and piles of debris blocking access to many areas complicated search and rescue efforts, officials said, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
It appears the fire broke out on the ground floor but it was not immediately clear exactly where and the cause was still under investigation.
The United Daily News said that investigators were focusing on a first-floor tea shop where the fire had started, and police were looking into a resident who reportedly fought with his girlfriend earlier on Wednesday. They had not ruled out arson, the newspaper said.
Fire extinguishers had been installed last month, but only three per floor because the residents could not afford to pay more, the United Daily News, a major newspaper, reported.
A 1995 fire at a nightclub in Taichung, Taiwan’s third-largest city, killed 64 people in the country’s deadliest such disaster in recent times.
Neil Young urged Spotify employees to leave their jobs in his latest salvo against the platform and its CEO Daniel Ek for hosting "The Joe Rogan Experience." The call for resignations also came after a video compilation of Rogan using the n-word on his podcast was made public.
Jeff Zucker has resigned as CNN's president, writing in a memo he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with a colleague. Zucker admitted to the relationship, which he described as consensual, during the investigation into former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo's behavior. Seth Schachner, managing director of StratAmericas, joined Cheddar to discuss where does this abrupt resignation leaves the network.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Dr. Ashley Farmer, Historian, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin & Author of "Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era", shines a spotlight on some of the women overlooked by history that had a profound influence on the American Civil Rights and Black Power Movements.
Katie Rainge-Briggs, Exhibition and Collections Manager, National Museum of African American Music, explores the deep influence of Black music and musicians on modern American Culture; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Beyond the Spotlight'.
Dr. Ashley Farmer, Historian, Associate Professor at University of Texas at Austin & Author of "Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era", joins Cheddar Reveals to shine a spotlight on some of the women overlooked by history that had a profound influence on the American Civil Rights and Black Power Movements.
Katie Rainge-Briggs, Exhibition and Collections Manager, National Museum of African American Music, joins Cheddar Reveals to explore the deep influence of Black music and musicians on modern American Culture.
Women's health company Organon will give its over 9,000 employees a paid day off on International Women's Day.
The move comes as the company aims to recognize the growing health inequities women have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kevin Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Organon joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
From 'The Dating Game' to 'Sexy Beasts' the world has always fallen in love with reality romance. Just in time for Valentine's Day, None Of The Above's J.D. Durkin takes us through a brief history of dating shows.
