Taiwan Formosa Water Park explosion injures hundreds
Saturday's incident at
the Formosa Water Park
is believed to have happened when a colored powder ignited after being
discharged onto the crowd.
Footage
showed people panicking and screaming. Inflatable water toys were shown being
used as stretchers.
Some
190 people are seriously hurt - 182 are in intensive care.
Some
of them breathed in the powder, causing respiratory problems.
Local
media said organizers of the Color Play Asia event had been taken in for
questioning by prosecutors.
Skin 'gone'
Footage
of the incident shows a party in full swing when suddenly fire erupts.
It
was "hell", a male student who sustained minor injuries said,
according to AFP news agency.
"There
was blood everywhere, including in the pool where lots of the injured were soaking
themselves for relief from the pain."
His
girlfriend added: "I saw lots of people whose skin was gone."
The fire was quickly brought under control,
but the cause of the incident is still under investigation.
The authorities believe something that caught fire caused the colored powder spray or dust - used to create a party atmosphere - to explode.
The substance is also used in other
countries. It is made of dried corn and can be highly flammable, our
correspondent says.
The 519 victims were sent to 41 hospitals,
and 413 are still in hospital, say municipal authorities.
The incident occurred about 20:30 (12:30
GMT). More than 1,000 people were near the stage at the time.
The fire department said: "Our initial
understanding is this explosion and fire... was caused by the powder spray. It
could have been due to the heat of the lights on the stage".
Soaring temperatures
Many people flocked to water parks on
Saturday as temperatures reached 36.6C
(98F ) in Taipei
and as high as 38C in other
parts of Taiwan , says the
BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei .
New Taipei City 's
mayor, Eric Chu, ordered an immediate shutdown of the water park pending an
investigation.
A fire earlier this year killed six
firefighters, prompting orders to rectify illegally constructed buildings and
upgrade firefighters' equipment and training.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33300970
Structure of the Lead:
Keywords:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33300970
Structure of the Lead:
WHO- not given
WHEN- Saturday
WHAT- incident
WHY-not given
WHERE-Formosa Water Park
HOW-when a colored powder ignited after being discharged onto the crowd.Keywords:
explosion爆炸
- injure傷害
- ignite點燃
- discharge 射出
- respiratory 呼吸的,與呼吸有關的
- under investigation 調查中
- spray 噴射
- flammable 易燃的
- heat 高溫
- enforcement 實施,規章的嚴格執行
The incident was an artificial mistake. Merchants were dishonest and they used cheaper materials to hold the party just for their own greed. They ignored others precious lives just because they wanted to saved more money. While they saved more money, they had more personal gain. How can people do such a terrible thing. When I saw so many parents and families worry about their children or families in the hospital, I felt very sad even about to tear. So. I wish them could recover soon.
回覆刪除My heart was broken when hearing such a heart news.And I was ashamed of the bride scandal between officials and the bubble event's organizer.Why those greedy people always only see the profits ? Why they always ignore the safety?Is that not important ?Please pay more attention about the safety of human life,okay?
回覆刪除Well, l think this kind of big event should be inspected even more carefully. It was related to a lot of people's life.However, it was the owner of the water park that didn't focus more on the humans' life. But, I know that after this sad event, Taiwanese people will pay more attention to the place they are going to have fun.
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