Kaohsiung gas explosion casualties increase to 292高雄瓦斯爆炸事故傷亡增至292－愛薇塔樂學英文

Kaohsiung gas explosion casualties increase to 292高雄瓦斯爆炸事故傷亡增至292

CNA
August 1, 2014, 1:38 pm TWN

Taipei -- The number of people killed in multiple gas explosions in Kaohsiung overnight increased to 22 as of 7:30 a.m. Friday, the National Fire Agency said. Another 270 people were injured.

Twenty-six firefighters were among the casualties, including 4 fatalities.

An unknown number of people remained missing, including a senior fire official who went to the scene after 9 p.m. to help determine the source of an apparent gas leak before the first of several explosions occurred.

At daybreak, the full picture of the destruction became clear.

An area of two to three square kilometers in the city's Cianjhen District saw its roads ripped open and once busy streets strewn with debris. Cars were overturned and motorcycles mangled after many of them had been thrown into the air by the powerful blasts.

The series of explosions and subsequent fires lasting for hours were believed to have been caused by gas leaks underground and not connected to terrorism.

Fires at all but one location had been put out by dawn Friday.

Speaking to reporters early Friday, Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch and a Kaohsiung City official said there were indications that the explosions were caused by ethylene, propene or butane, all highly flammable petrochemical products.

Several petrochemical plants are located in Kaohsiung. It is too early to say which of the companies' pipelines is to blame for the explosions, the officials said.

Many of the casualties involved emergency response personnel as the first explosion occurred when they tried to contain a gas-related incident on a busy street in Cianjhen District.

As of early Friday, search and rescue efforts were still going on, with troops going through piles of debris to look for signs of life.

Offices and schools in Cianjhen and Lingya Districts were shut down Friday to facilitate emergency work, Mayor Chen Chu said. The city government designated a cultural center and eight schools to be used as emergency shelters.

Firefighters from neighboring Tainan City and Pingtung County, as well as hundreds of troops were called in to help as President Ma Ying-jeou ordered "full-gear rescue efforts."

高雄瓦斯爆炸事故傷亡增至292

中央社
2014年8月1日，下午1時38分TWN

台北 - 人死於多種氣體爆炸高雄過夜人數上升至22上午7:30週五，國家消防局說。另外270人受傷。

二十六名消防隊員的傷亡，其中4人死亡。

數目不詳的人仍然失踪，包括誰去現場晚上9點後，以幫助前的第幾起爆炸發生確定的表觀氣體洩漏源的高級消防官員。

天亮的時候，遭到破壞的全貌變得清晰。

二三平方公里的城市的前鎮區面積也看到了它的道路撕開，一旦散落著碎片繁忙的街道。汽車被掀翻和摩托車錯位後，許多人被拋到空中的大爆炸。

該系列爆炸和隨後的大火持續了幾個小時被認為已經造成燃氣洩漏的地下，而不是連接到恐怖主義。

火災在所有，但一個位置已經被撲滅了曙光週五。

經濟部常嘉juch高雄城市官員的部長對記者說，週五早些時候表示，有跡象表明，爆炸是由乙烯，丙烯，丁烷，都高度易燃的石油化工產品引起的。

一些石化廠設在高雄。這是言之尚早，該公司的管道是難辭其咎的爆炸，該官員說。

許多傷亡參與應急響應人員，當他們試圖遏制對前鎮區一條繁忙的街道氣體相關的事件第一次爆炸發生了。