Taoyuan blaze

6 firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

By Amy Chyan, The China Post January 21, 2015, 12:07 am TWN

Six young firefighters perished in the line of duty in the early hours of yesterday morning while trying to fight a blaze at a bowling alley located in Taoyuan's Xinwu District.

Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) held a meeting in response to the Xinwu fire, and said he estimated that each deceased fireman's family will be receiving a NT$19 million pension.

Responding to the bowling alley's architectural, operational and land use violations, Cheng said that a heavy punishment will be meted out. In addition, Cheng promised to tear down all of the city's illegal structures to avoid future public safety disasters.

The Taoyuan City Government has created an emergency group to help families with funeral plans.

Families of the deceased arrived on the scene with Buddhist priests to summon the souls of the firemen in a spiritual ceremony.

Second Floor Culprit

Built from metal sheets and wooden beams, the three-story bowling alley experienced a powerful explosion after the fire was subdued. The unexpected explosion trapped the firemen, which led to their deaths.

Initial investigations concluded that the fire started on the second floor, with the source of the blaze thought to be the transformer box.

Two brothers, surnamed Liu, who owned the business escaped the fire uninjured. The 52-year-old elder brother was a volunteer firefighter and helped combat the deadly blaze.

The Liu brothers were summoned by police for interrogation and have agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors' investigation.

Timeline of Fire

Citizens informed firefighters of the overwhelming blaze at the Xinwu bowling alley at 2:02 a.m. The Taoyuan Fire Department sent out 99 fire and police personnel to the scene.

The fire was under control by 2:29 a.m. though half an hour later, disaster struck as an explosion trapped members of the firefighting crew after the second floor once again burst into flames.

By 3:46 a.m., six firemen were confirmed to be missing.

The six firemen who died are 26-year-old Chen Feng-hsiang (陳鳳翔), 22-year-old Chen Yen-ming (陳彥茗), 21-year-old Tsai Chang-jung (蔡長融), 22-year-old Chang Kuei-chang (張桂彰), 27-year-old Tseng Chung-jen (曾重仁) and the eldest of the group Hsieh Chun-chieh (謝君杰) who was 29 years old.

After receiving news that their colleagues had died in the fire, remaining fire department personal on scene mourned by calling out “Mission's complete, time to go home,” as a gesture of respect.

DNA Testing To Confirm Identity

Family members of the late firemen arrived to the hospital heartbroken and inconsolable.

Taoyuan General Hospital Sinwu Branch's (桃園醫院新屋分院) Superintendent Chen Rui-chang (陳瑞昌) confirmed that the six men arrived at the hospital with no vital signs.

According to prosecutors, the bodies of the firemen are unrecognizable from the fire and their identities will have to be confirmed through DNA testing as well as the matching of uniforms and protective gear.

Source:http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taoyuan/2015/01/21/427026/p1/6-firefighters.htm

Structure of the lead

What- blaze happened

When- 2015/01/20

Where- Taoyuan, Taiwan

How- operational and land use violations

Key words

perished 使死亡

deceased 死者

violations違規

tear down拆除

subdued制服

Taliban kill 132 at school in Pakistan

ATROCITY: The victims were mostly schoolchildren, in the deadliest terror attack in the country since at least 2007, in what Islamabad has called ‘a decisive moment’

Taliban militants killed dozens of children in an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan, that has left 132 people dead so far, the country’s deadliest terrorist attack since at least 2007.

Two attackers were holding 40 teachers and 20 students hostage, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Minister of Information Mushtaq Ghani said by telephone before a military source announced that a nine-hour Pakistani Army operation to retake the school was complete

All nine attackers were reportedly killed, the source said.

Four attackers blew themselves up and another was shot dead by soldiers, he said.

The strike is the worst since the army began an offensive against Taliban insurgents near the Afghan border earlier this year.

The military is expected to want to hit back hard as the Taliban looks for more so-called “soft targets,” such as shopping centers and restaurants affiliated with the armed forces, according to Omar Hamid, head of Asia-Pacific country risk at IHS Inc.

“A lot of the kids that go to this school would have parents in the army who are taking part in the operation,” Hamid said by telephone from London. “It’s an attempt to bring the conflict into the homes of the military, especially in Peshawar.”

The dead included 123 male students, as well as nine staff members, including a female teacher, Peshawar government spokesman Feroze Shah said by telephone.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Express Tribune, citing Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khorasani.

The attack was in retaliation for the military’s operation in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal agency, it said.

“This is a decisive moment in the fight against terrorism,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told reporters in televised remarks from Peshawar. “The people of Pakistan should unite in this fight. Our resolve will not be weakened by these attacks.”

Terrorism has killed more than 50,000 people in Pakistan since 2001 and complicated efforts to revive South Asia’s second-biggest economy.

Yesterday’s strike is the deadliest on a school since a 2004 assault by Islamic militants in Russia, according to Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.

About 350 people died then in Beslan, North Ossetia, half of them children.

It also came a day after a self-proclaimed Islamic cleric from Iran held 17 hostages at a Sydney cafe for 16 hours. He died along with two hostages.

“Due to the momentum of events in Syria and Iraq, the number of groups in Pakistan have become more galvanized,” Gunaratna said. “You can see a trend toward hostage-taking and barricade-type situations. It’s a very serious situation.”

The prime minister and Pakistani Army Chief Raheel Sharif both flew to the site of the attack yesterday, according to news reports.

The US embassy condemned the attack.

Television images showed armored vehicles rolling into the area near the school building as soldiers leaped out of vans. Mothers were shown running toward the gate of the school and crying inside the hospital.

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE100 Index fell 2.6 percent, the most in four months. Oil and Gas Development Co., the nation’s biggest explorer, fell by the limit of 5 percent, the most in three years.

Pakistan’s military started a ground offensive in June to flush out militants from North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border the US has called the “epicenter” of terrorism.

That came after successive Taliban attacks on a Pakistan International Airlines Corp flight and Karachi’s international airport.

After the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, North Waziristan became a safe haven for foreign militants like Uzbeks and Turks who fought alongside the fallen Taliban regime.

In 2007, militant groups in the area united to form the Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan, which went on an offensive toward Islamabad.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/12/17/2003606919/2

Structure of the lead

What- 132students were killed

Where- at school in Pakistan

Who- Taliban

When- 2014/12/16

Why- in retaliation for the military’s operation

Key words

retake 奪回

insurgents 叛亂份子

affiliated 附屬

decisive 果斷