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An explosion caused by a gas leak in a Taipei suburb on Friday killed at least one child and injured 14 other people, in Taiwan’s second fatal gas explosion in two weeks.
The explosion took place at 11:46 a.m. on the third floor of a residential building in the Xindian District of New Taipei City, shattering glass in nearby stores and sending debris flying several meters away.
Residents living in the building told Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper that they smelled gas on Thursday afternoon and notified a building administrator. Gas company Shin Shin Natural Gas dispatched an employee who smelled gas coming from the elevator but did not conduct a thorough exam.
The Apple Daily said Shin Shin confirmed that the blast was caused by a gas leak. The source of explosion is believed to have been in the master bedroom of the third-floor apartment.
A firefighter surname Chang told the Apple Daily he heard two children crying for their mother in the kitchen when he was searching for survivors in the apartment where the explosion took place.
He returned to the scene and rescued a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl before returning to try to save her 16-month-old brother, who had no pulse. Chang said he was unable to carry both children out at the same time because the entrance to the kitchen was blocked. The boy died. The girl and her grandmother suffered second and third degree burns.
The Apple Daily reported that the New Taipei City fire department said a hot plate was found turned on in the apartment’s kitchen. The building’s gas supply has been turned off. The cause of the explosion was still under investigation.
A series of powerful gas explosions on July 31 killed 30 people and injured more than 300 people in the southern city of Kaohsiung. The Kaohsiung city government has blamed LCY Chemical Corp. for the blasts, which it says may have been caused by about 10 tonnes of propene that may have leaked from the company
