TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A young woman died after a fire broke out in an old two-story building in Taichung City on Thursday (Nov. 16).
At 11:52 a.m. a fire broke out in an old house that was part of a row of aging two-story structures on Chenggong Road in Taichung City's Central District (Old Town), reported New-Reporter. The fire soon spread to a neighboring Vietnamese goods store, a department store, and a fabric shop, ultimately destroying four stores.
The fire department dispatched a total of eight units, including 24 fire trucks and 70 firefighters to the scene. Firefighters rescued two people who were trapped on the second floor, including a 21-year-old bedridden woman and her 44-year-old foreign caregiver.
The young woman with cerebral palsy was surnamed Chang (張) and had no vital signs when she was found by firefighters, reported Liberty Times. She was rushed by ambulance to China Medical University Hospital.
The hospital stated the injured woman arrived at 12:21 p.m. and that she was bedridden for a long time and relied on a tracheostomy tube for breathing, reported SET News. She did not have any vital signs when she arrived at the hospital and despite efforts by doctors to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead at 12:37 p.m.
The caregiver was conscious and was sent to a nearby hospital, but had not sustained serious injuries. The fire was brought under control at 12:50 p.m.
A man surnamed Chiang (江) said that Chang was his stepdaughter, who was being cared for by a foreign caregiver, reported TVBS. Chiang said that he had stepped out that morning to sell vegetables and he had no idea how the fire had started.
The fire is suspected of starting in the claw machine shop rented out by the house's owner on the first floor. The exact cause of the fire is, however, under investigation.
(Taichung City Fire Bureau photo)
(Taichung City Fire Bureau photo)
(Taichung City Fire Bureau photo)
