TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taichung Fire Department on Friday afternoon issued a statement on its initial findings into the cause of a deadly explosion at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store the previous day.
A gas leak was possibly caused by workers doing interior renovations on the 11th and 12th floors, reported Now News. The findings of the fire department appear to contradict a Thursday press release by the city’s gas provider, Shin Chung Natural Gas, which ruled out faulty pipes or a gas leak as the cause of the explosion.
Witnesses questioned by Taichung prosecutors on Thursday night said that crews were working on the gas lines between 10:30 and 11:10 a.m. The explosion occurred approximately 20 minutes after individuals working on the renovations noticed the smell of gas, per Now News.
The blast resulted in four deaths and 30 injuries. Two of the casualties were employees of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi overseeing the renovations. Two other victims were elderly visitors from Macao, who were struck by falling debris outside the department store.
The fire department also determined that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi broke several safety regulations. The company reportedly failed to apply for a permit before beginning interior renovations, which is required when public safety and evacuation routes may be compromised, per Now News.
Labor inspectors also found the renovation sites were not in keeping with the standards outlined in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. There are also reports the crews may have disabled fire alarms and other warning equipment to minimize disturbances while the work was ongoing.
The fire department dispatched a thermal imaging drone 30 minutes after the explosion to survey the damaged floors and found that residual temperatures following the blast were not especially high, per UDN. The findings suggest a very high-pressure blast with low flammability.
Some experts have speculated that gas leakage from the air conditioning compressor system could have played a role in the sudden blast, reported EBC News. They cite a 2019 explosion at a barbecue restaurant in China’s Hebei Province that was traced to a faulty air conditioner system.
