Banqiao District

Gourmet restaurant couple suspected to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning: stove found not turned off properly

La Foresta restaurant facade
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 2 Comments , , ,

A couple found dead in their Italian style restaurant in New Taipei City yesterday died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to an improperly turned off stove, according to a preliminary investigation. An employee of the restaurant who had been resting at home after finishing the lunch shift at around 2:00 pm, returned shortly before 5:00 pm to find the restaurant locked, and the couple not responding to his phone calls. The 22-year-old man, named Shen, eventually called a former employee

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4 slightly injured after crowded metro escalator collapses

crowded escalator collapses
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

One person suffered a sprained ankle and three other people were bruised but did not need medical treatment after an escalator with around 30 people on it collapsed at Hsinpu MRT Station in New Taipei City’s Banqiao District, Friday, March 11. Taipei Metro administrators said that the ascending escalator suddenly stalled and slid backwards at 10:26 pm. Taipei Metro expressed its deep apologies to the affected passengers. Taipei Metro said that the escalators in MRT stations have strict maintenance schedules.

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Wanted woman chased by police, crashes into pond

composite image showing vehicle in pond and suspect arrested
Crime and Criminals 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A woman wanted for fraud attempted to evade a police check, leading to police shooting at the tires of her vehicle, and a chase that ended in a pond in Banqiao District, yesterday, February 21. At around 4:30 pm, police identified a minivan stopped at an intersection on Yumin Road in Tucheng District, driven by a 27-year-old woman named Zhang, who is wanted on charges of fraud. When police approached the vehicle and asked the woman to show her ID,

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Residential gas explosion leaves 1 dead, 2 injured in New Taipei City

composite image of explosion and firefighters
Fire 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

An elderly woman died, and her caregiver and a neighbor were injured, after a gas explosion tore through an apartment in Banqiao District today, February 21. New Taipei City Fire Department received reports of a blast followed by a fire in a first floor apartment in a lane off Xianmin Boulevarde at 12:39 pm. Twenty-five vehicles and 68 personnel were dispatched to the scene. A 34-year-old foreign caregiver and a 20-year-old Taiwanese man were found injured and rushed to hospital.

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Police fire 9 shots in chase through streets of New Taipei City: 3 suspects arrested

police arrest suspect after car chase
Crime and Criminals 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Police arrested three men after firing nine shots at a car during a chase in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, at around noon today, Monday, December 13. At 11:50 am, police attempted to stop a vehicle after receiving a report that a man in the back seat of the car was seen brandishing a gun at the intersection of Guoqing Road and Chongqing Road. Police body cam footage showed the car knocking over three police motorcycles in order to escape

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Physically fit felon tests police stamina in foot chase through streets of New Taipei City

composite picture of suspect during police chase
Drugs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Police in New Taipei City went through an unscheduled test of physical fitness, Sunday, when a man wanted on drugs charges lead the officers on a half-hour chase, until he was cornered and arrested. Police officers were on a routine patrol in Banqiao District when they spotted a suspected wanted person at the intersection of Nanya West Road and Guanqian West Road. The man pretended to cooperate with an identity check, but suddenly fled as police were about to search

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9 shots fired by police in arrest of armed suspect in New Taipei City

suspect arrested by police
Crime and Criminals 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , , ,

Police officers fired nine shots at a suspect’s vehicle, wrested a gun out of the wanted man’s hands, then disarmed him again when he pulled a belt knife and cut an officers arm in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, today, May 5. At around 3:00pm, police officers approached a black BMW sedan illegally parked in Lane 188, Wenhua Road, and recognized a 36-year-old driver as a suspect named Yeh (葉), wanted on drugs charges. Yeh attempted to run the police

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3 workers injured after roadworks sewer-gas explosion in New Taipei City

firefighters tend to injured workers at site of gas explosion
Fire 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Three workers were injured, two cars damaged, and a McDonald’s fast food restaurant suffered broken windows and a damaged ceiling after an explosion Banqiao District this morning, April 26. According to reports, at around 8:45am, workers on a sidewalk and sewer improvement project, at the intersection of Duxing Road and Xicheng Road, were drilling into the ground when flammable gases in the sewer ignited, blowing a manhole cover into the air, and spraying chunks of broken pavement into nearby buildings

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Firefighters rescue 13 people from residential building fire in New Taipei City

A firefighter rescues a baby in New Taipei City
Fire 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Firefighters carried babies and elderly people out of a building after a fire in Banqiao District affected 17 households this morning, April 17. A total of 34 people were evacuated from the six-storey building, of whom 13 required rescue after being trapped. One family was trapped for 20 minutes until firefighters finally reached them, and helped carry 2 infants out of the apartment. Ten of the residents were sent to hospital for precautionary check-ups and treatment for light injuries. Firefighters

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Bank robber nabbed within four hours of heist

bank robber arrested by police
Crime and Criminals 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Police arrested a man at around 7:00pm this evening after a New Taipei City bank was robbed shortly after 3:00pm this afternoon. At around 3:20pm, as shortly before closing time, a man wearing a surgical mask and a motorcycle helmet walked into a branch of the E. Sun Bank on Yuan-dong Road in Banqiao District, pointed a pistol at staff, and without saying word, went behind the counter to search for cash. The suspect then fled with NT$500,000 cash. The

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5 injured in gas explosion in Banqiao District; suspected suicide attempt

apartment damaged by gas explosion
Society 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Four men and one woman were hospitalized suffering burns and glass cuts after a gas explosion in a residence in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, in the early hours of the morning, today, February 9. According to reports in Apple Daily, and China Times, at around 2:20am residents around Lane 430, Xinhai Road, were awoken by a massive bang, causing windows to shatter around a 5th floor residence. The glass doors of the residence were completely destroyed, and the bent

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