At least 9 dead after hospital fire in typhoon-ravaged south Taiwan

Nine people are confirmed dead, and one remains missing, after a fire sent smoke billowing through a hospital in Pingtung County, Taiwan, this morning, Thursday, October 3.

Pingtung County Fire Department received reports of a fire at the Antai Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital in Donggang Township at 7:40 am. The fire department dispatched 46 vehicles and 116 personnel to the scene of the fire.

Firefighters discovered the source of the fire in a power distribution room on the second floor. Thick smoke billowed out, filling the upper floors of the hospital, including wards filled with elderly patients.

More than 300 people were evacuated from the hospital. Police and firefighters systematically searched the hospital floor by floor, and by 1:00 pm, nine people had been confirmed deceased, suspected to have succumbed to smoke inhalation injury. One person remained missing. Most of the deceased are reported to be bedridden elderly patients who were found on the 10th and 11th floors. One of the deceased was an employee who was found in a stairwell.

Ambulances from Pingtung County Fire Department, Kaohsiung City Fire Department, and national army ambulances, originally on standby for typhoon disaster response, were used to transport patients to other hospitals in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung City. Twelve of the patients from the intensive care unit were on respirators.

The district prosecutor has dispatched specialist fire and criminal forensics personnel to investigate the cause of the fire.

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