A fire that broke out in a commercial and residential building in Kaohsiung, Taiwan early Thursday has claimed 46 lives and left 41 people injured, Kaohsiung’s fire department said in a statement to reporters.
As of Thursday afternoon, 87 people had been pulled from the 13-story building on Fubei Road in the city’s Yancheng District, according to the Kaohsiung Fire Bureau.
The death toll could rise as search and rescue efforts continued, local media reported citing Fire bureau chief Lee Ching-hsiu.
Pictures published by Taiwan’s official Central News Agency showed smoke billowing out of the building’s windows as firefighters desperately tried to douse the flames using extendable hoses.
The fire broke out at around 3 a.m. on the first floor of the building and rose to the sixth floor, filling the seventh floor and above with smoke, which caused most casualties, the bureau’s chief Lee Ching-hsiu (李清秀) said.
Most of the residents in the building were senior citizens who suffered from dementia or physical disabilities, he said.
As of 4:40 p.m. Thursday, 46 deaths and 41 injuries had been recorded, most of them from smoke inhalation, Lee said, adding that the blaze had been put out at 7:17 a.m.
Four witnesses have been summoned by the police, in the investigation into the cause of the fire, he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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