At least 24
people have been killed and 270 others injured in a series of underground gas
explosions in Taiwan. The blasts came after local residents had reported
smelling the scent of gas.
Deutsche Welle, 1 Aug 2014
Thousands
of emergency workers and soldiers were deployed to Kaohsiung, Taiwan's
second-largest city on Friday, where an operation was ongoing to search for
both survivors and victims of the blasts.
Several
people were reported missing and local media reports indicated that the death
toll could rise sharply.
Four
firefighters who had been called to the area to investigate a possible gas leak
were reported to have been among those killed in the explosions, which occurred
several hours after their arrival.
The blasts,
which occurred in a district of Kaohsiung that is packed with shops and
apartment buildings, hurled concrete and vehicles through the air and ripped
open large craters in several streets.
Taiwan's
minister of economic affairs told a press conference on Friday, that the source
of the blasts appeared to have been a gas that is a by-product of the
processing of fossil fuels.
"Based
on our preliminary investigation, the gases spilled included propene,"
Chang Chia-juch said.
Urban gas
pipes to be checked
The gas
line that exploded belongs to the state-owned CPC Corporation, according to the
Associated Press. The source and cause of the leak was not immediately clear.
Whatever
the cause of the blast, Tiawan's president, Ma Ying-jeou pledged that all pipes
used by petrochemical companies under urban areas would be checked to avoid a recurrence
of the incident.
"We
will make further arrangements and inspections to avoid this kind of disaster
from occurring again," President Ma said in comments broadcast on
Taiwanese television.
The
president also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
pfd/kms (AP, dpa, Reuters)
The aftermath of the gas explosions in Kaohsiung,
Aug. 1, 2014 (Photo/CNA) |
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