The tragic blaze in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng District has claimed at least 46 lives. Sadly, it is just the latest in a string of deadly fires to have occurred in Taiwan in recent decades.
In February 1995, a gas leak on the ground floor of a three-story restaurant in Taichung sparked a fire which quickly engulfed the entire building. Those who were lucky enough to get out alive were mentally scarred for life.
A survivor of the blaze recounts how restaurant patrons crowded around windows, trying to break reinforced glass with chairs in desperation.
The fire started by the main staircase, and restaurant employees informed arriving firefighters that patrons on the second floor had escaped. Acting on wrong information, firefighters wasted precious time. In the end, 37 bodies were discovered by the windows, and the entire incident claimed 64 lives, making it the second-deadliest fire in Taiwanese history.
In January 1993, a fire in a building in Taipei had a similarly fatal result. Flames quickly spread from the first floor and engulfed a restaurant above. Narrow windows made escape difficult, and in the end 33 people perished, including a famous musician. Traces of gasoline were found around the entrance and stairs, but the arsonist was never caught, and the person in charge of the restaurant was sentenced for negligent homicide to just over three years in jail.
In 1966, a fire at Taipei’s Hsinsheng Theater claimed 31 lives and caused 29 injuries. It was rebuilt, and then burned down again 22 years later. Fire after fire, each one deadly, and each one investigated by local authorities. But have lessons been learned?
This week, a fire in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng District engulfed a 12-story building. 46 fatalities have been confirmed at press time, with additional 41 injured. The causes are still under investigation, but many Taiwanese are asking: how many lives have to be lost before authorities take public safety seriously?