Gas blasts kill dozens as fete turns tragic
A local resident looks at the gas explosion site in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung on August 1, 2014. A series of powerful gas blasts killed at least 22 people and injured up to 270 in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, overturning cars and ripping open roads, officials said. AFP PHOTO / SAM YEH
What you need to know:
- The blasts, believed to have been triggered by gas leaking from underground pipelines, were powerful enough to flip cars and split open paved roads.
- Four firefighters who rushed to the scene after residents smelled gas were among those killed in the blasts while rescuers were searching for two others who went missing.
Taipei, Friday
A series of powerful gas blasts killed at least 25 people and injured up to 267 Friday in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, overturning cars and ripping up roads as terrified residents fled an inferno.
The explosions sparked massive fires which tore through the city’s Cianjhen district, leaving a yawning trench running for hundreds of metres down the middle of a major thoroughfare and littering the streets with dead bodies.
Dramatic video footage captured by dashboard cameras inside cars showed multiple blasts and pillars of flame erupting from manholes as drivers frantically tried to avoid being engulfed.
The National Fire Agency said the blasts killed at least 25 people and injured around 267 in Taiwan’s second largest city.
Four firefighters who rushed to the scene after residents smelled gas were among those killed in the blasts while rescuers were searching for two others who went missing.
Premier Jiang Yi-huan inspected the affected areas and said flags would be flown at half-mast at government offices and schools across the island from August 5 for three days to mourn the victims of the blasts as well as a fatal air crash last week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the victims of the gas explosions, the official Xinhua news agency said.
GAS LEAKING
The blasts, believed to have been triggered by gas leaking from underground pipelines, were powerful enough to flip cars and split open paved roads.
One street had been ripped along its length, swallowing several fire engines and other vehicles, while some houses had their roofs blown off.
Workers were using cranes to lift up the vehicles and bulldozers to clean up the scene later Friday. In Bangladesh, a train smashed into a crowded bus carrying a bridal party west of the Bangladesh capital today morning leaving at least 10 people dead and 57 injured, police said.
The Simanta Express train ploughed through the bus and then dragged it at least 500 metres (545 yards) along the tracks at Barobazar town near Bangladesh’s western border with India, police inspector Mizanur Rahman told AFP.
“We’ve recovered 10 bodies while 57 people have been hospitalised — all of them from the bridal party. Conditions of several people are very critical,” Rahman said. Police said the accident occurred at an unguarded railway crossing, allowing cars and buses to move freely.(AFP)
