At least five people were killed and twenty injured in a shopping mall explosion in Taiwan on Thursday.
The Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store was damaged after a gas explosion occurred on the twelfth floor of the Taichung mall.
As more than 130 firefighters responded to the location, Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said that 235 people had been evacuated from the building and the adjacent vicinity.
Taichung Fire Department video showed extensive damage to the 12th floor where a food court had been under construction.
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According to a local media report, the Taichung Fire Bureau said four people were blown out of windows on the 12th floor by the blast, which showered debris onto the street below as smoke poured from the building.
“The Ministry of Health and Welfare is actively coordinating medical resources to provide the best medical assistance to the injured, and hope that the injured will recover soon,” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in a Facebook post.
He asked that relevant departments “clarify the cause of the accident as soon as possible.”
