SEARCH AND RESCUE: As city officials and companies sought
the cause of the series of explosions that claimed 26 lives, teams searched the
rubble for survivors
By
Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
A series of suspected gas explosions that shook Greater Kaohsiung from late
Thursday night to early yesterday morning claimed at least 26 lives and injured
269 people.
The blasts tore through the city’s roads and dug a 100m trench up to 1.8m deep. At least 1.5km of roadways were damaged.
Cars and fire trucks were trapped and overturned in the
rubble. Vehicles were hurled through the air, landing on the roofs of houses. Flames
erupted from manholes after their covers were blasted off, with gouts of fire
reaching 15 stories high.
According to the Greater Kaohsiung Government, at 8:46pm on
Thursday it received reports of manholes spewing white
smoke and the suspected smell of gas near Kaisyuan 3rd Road and Ersheng 1st
Road in Cianjhen District (前鎮). A few hours after the first report, a series
of explosions took place on Yisin Road, Ersheng Road, Sanduo Road and Guanghua
Road in the same district, and in neighboring Lingya District (苓雅).
At press time, city government information showed that the
incident had claimed 26 lives and injured 269. Among the 26 confirmed dead were
three firefighters and one volunteer who rushed to the scene after residents
smelled gas. Rescuers were also searching for two others who went missing.
At 8:30pm yesterday, two people were reportedly discovered
alive under debris, and rescue workers were trying to free them using excavators, shovels and their bare hands. It has not been confirmed
whether the two men are the two firefighters who were reported missing.
Some of the fatalities were homeowners checking out their
properties after being informed about the first blasts.
Two injured people rescued from a fourth-floor balcony said
that they had been propelled to the rooftop by the blasts.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper’s reporter Wei
Bin (魏斌) was injured by the explosions, receiving second and
third-degree burns over about 50 percent of his body, the paper reported.
Schools and work were called off in Cianjhen and Lingya
districts yesterday.
Hundreds of troops and firefighters from neighboring
Greater Tainan, Chiayi City , Taitung
County and Pingtung County
Yesterday morning, fires still burned on the streets, but
the local government said that they were left burning to avoid further
explosions, adding that the firefighting crew was on the scene to keep the fire
from consuming nearby buildings.
The cause of the explosions had not been determined, with
authorities now focusing on the volatile chemical propene — which
is carried in pipelines that run alongside the city’s underground sewage system
in the area — as the suspected cause.
Chemical companies such as CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油),
China Petrochemical Development Corp (中石化), China General
Terminal and Distribution Corp (CGTD, 華運), LCY Chemical Corp
(李長榮化學) and Hsin Kao Gas Co Ltd (欣高),
which have pipelines in the area, were called in by the city government’s
emergency response center amid the inquiry into the cause of the fatal blasts.
Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝)
said yesterday morning that natural gas has been excluded from
the list of possible causes, adding that gas check valves in the area have been
closed.
The Greater Kaohsiung Government said a 4-inch pipeline
carrying propene was found to have encountered a pressure anomaly between
8:40pm and 9pm on Thursday night.
Greater Kaohsiung Deputy
Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得) said CGTD Corp was attempting to transfer propene, a compressed
fuel gas, from the seaport to LCY Chemical Corp, and the correspondence between
the workers of the two companies showed that the effort failed. It was
suspected that the gas had leaked during the transfer process, causing the
explosions.
Greater Kaohsiung
Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), at a meeting with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) at the city’s emergency
response command center, said that Cianjhen District had seen another gas
explosion that had caused serious damage in 1997 and called on the central
government and the Industrial Development Bureau to examine and overhaul the
city’s pipeline network.
Life detectors and
rescue dogs have been employed in the rescue operation, as well as helicopters
searching for signs of life within what is known as the “golden 72 hours,”
during which most survivors are found.
Additional
reporting by Huang Wen-huang and Wu Chun-feng
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/08/02 /2003596471/2
Key Words
1.
propene 丙烯
2. suspected 嫌疑
3. blast 爆破
4. trench 溝
5. spew 噴
6. excavator 挖掘機
7. exclude 排除
8. pipeline 管道
Structure of the lead
What- gas
explosions
Where- Greater Kaohsiung , Taiwan
When- 2014/07/31 -2014/08/01
Why- propene released
It's really a tragedy. In fact, lots of residents smelt gas before they died. Since they didn't have time to think and the pipeline exploded. In my opinion, the mst important thing now is rebuilding the city.
回覆刪除When I heard of this news, I felt upset. In fact, residents there had been aware of a gas leak before the authorities concerned handled it.
回覆刪除Hearing that really upset me because I live in Kaohsiung and I think Kaohsiung people and the scenery are very fantastic. So, I think it's no use to do anything such as complaining. The only thing we can do for them is to rebuild their family. And I think no matter who you are you can also give a hand to those victims!
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