Yahoo – AFP,
Amber Wang, 9 February 2016
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A rescue
worker searches through the rubble of an earthquake-damaged building in the
southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, on February 9, 2016 (AFP Photo/Anthony
Wallace)
|
The
developer of a Taiwan apartment complex that collapsed during a strong
earthquake was arrested Tuesday, as rescuers reported hearing signs of life in
the rubble where some 100 people are still trapped.
Prosecutors
in the southern city of Tainan launched an investigation into Saturday's
disaster after photos showed cans and foam had been used to fill parts of the
complex's concrete framework.
The
district court took the developer, identified as Lin Ming-hui, and two of his
employees into formal custody late Tuesday after they were questioned at the
prosecutors' office earlier.
"The
court has decided to have all of them be taken into custody on charges of
negligence of business duties that caused deaths," Tainan court
spokeswoman Kuo Jen-shiow told AFP.
Around 40
people have been confirmed dead and scores are still missing after the collapse
of the 16-storey Wei-kuan building. Tuesday's hearing came as the 72-hour
"golden window" for finding survivors expired.
It was the
only high-rise in the southern city of Tainan to crumble completely when the
6.4 magnitude quake struck before dawn Saturday.
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A
distraught relative cries as he is briefed on the rescue effort in the southern
Taiwanese city of Tainan, on February 9, 2016 (AFP Photo/Anthony Wallace)
|
However,
Tainan mayor William Lai offered fresh hope of more survivors.
"After
detecting signs of life, the rescue team then banged in the direction of the
signs three times, and they got a response three times. This shows there's a
living person within," the mayor told a press conference.
More than
210 people have already been rescued, including an eight-year-old girl and three
others pulled from the rubble Monday.
But hopes
were dimming for some relatives of the missing.
"My
brother and sister-in-law are trapped in Building A at the bottom of the
wreckage. I feel like they've given up on them," Cheng Ya-ling told AFP.
"I'm
losing hope and losing faith in the rescue. If there's no miracle and they
don't come out alive, I only hope they died quickly and didn't suffer."
"I've
been waiting since Saturday in freezing weather at night and I have blankets.
How are they going to survive buried down there?" she said.
Distraught
relatives repeatedly interrupted the mayor's briefing, complaining they had to
wait for information from the media rather than being informed directly.
"I beg
you to save us. Our family still has three people trapped inside," one
tearful woman shouted at Lai as she broke through cordons and threw herself to
the ground.
"We
are going to break down," another man complained.
Not giving up
Meanwhile,
President Ma Ying-jeou pledged to press on with the rescue operation.
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Excavator
vehicles and rescue workers in front of a building which collapsed
in Tainan,
southern Taiwan (AFP Photo/Anthony Wallace)
|
"The
government won't give up any one of them. Although the golden 72 hours of
rescue has passed, lots of rescue records in the world have beaten it," Ma
said while visiting the central emergency operations centre outside Taipei.
The chance
of survival rapidly diminishes after the 72-hour window.
Cranes,
drills, ladders, sniffer dogs and life detection equipment are being used to
locate those buried, with emergency workers and soldiers shoring up the rubble
to avoid further collapses.
Taipei
mayor Ko Wen-je said the killer quake would speed up urban renewal projects in
the capital.
"It
would cause huge risks for our citizens should any earthquake of the same scale
hit the Taipei area," he told reporters.
While the
rescue operation was under way Tuesday, the island was jolted by a
4.9-magnitude quake off the eastern city of Hualien but no damage or casualties
were reported.
The weekend
quake struck two days before Lunar New Year, when many people would have been
visiting relatives for the biggest celebration of the Chinese calendar.
Taiwan lies
near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.
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