Sparks From Welding Started Deadly Taichung Warehouse Fire, Investigators Say

TaiwanPlus News

The fire at an unfinished supermarket warehouse in Taichung that killed nine people was started by sparks from welding igniting flammable materials, investigators say.

Transcript

00:00Standing outside a hospital in Taichung, Mr. Guo is grappling with the loss of a family

00:05member in a fire that shocked the nation.

00:15The massive blaze at an unfinished warehouse facility of a major supermarket chain started

00:19on Thursday night, killing at least nine people and injuring eight more.

00:24Authorities now say the fire was started by welding sparks.

00:27Another report said the warehouse contained a lot of polystyrene material that caught

00:31fire quickly, creating dense clouds of toxic smoke.

00:35Investigators say that once the fire broke out, the flammable materials on site made

00:39it difficult for people to escape, and the labor ministry is criticizing the lack of

00:43safety measures in place.

00:44But Thursday's fire at the PX Smart facility is just one of many to hit warehouses and

01:06factories in Taiwan in recent months.

01:09An issue firefighters have been raising repeatedly is a call for more stringent safety regulations.

01:15Officials dealing with the most recent fire are also investigating whether the factory

01:19had illegally hired migrant workers, as two of the people who died were Vietnamese nationals.

01:24The city government is not threatening fines for such cases.

01:28PX Smart could be fined more than 9,000 U.S. dollars for each safety code violation.

01:45But as details emerge from the blaze, the hope for many here is that lessons can be

01:49learned to prevent another disaster from happening.

01:53Howard Zhang in Haimeokan for Taiwan Plus.

01:57For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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