Rescuers search for survivors in Kaohsiung after series of deadly gas explosions
Government orders investigation into source of leaks that caused 25 deaths and injured 259 more
Taiwan’s rescuers today used life sign detectors to scour several bustling streets that had been blasted into long trenches after a series of gas explosions overnight killed 25 people and injured 259 others in the port city of Kaohsiung.
The explosions, believed to be caused by a leak of propylene, a petrochemical material, first struck a street in the busy Cianzhen district in the island’s second largest city, ripping off ditch covers and bursting into flame, according to video footage and officials.
Watch: Multiple gas explosions in Taiwan's Kaohsiung streets
At least five blasts followed in three other nearby districts sharing the same sewage system as streets tore open burying dozens of parked vehicles and parts of buildings alongside the roads collapsed, they said.
Four firefighters who were sent to the blast sites to put out the fires were killed when explosions suddenly occurred, the Kaohsiung City Government said.
More than 1,400 soldiers, joined local rescuers to scour the streets blasted open, the Defence Ministry said.
