Taiwanese leaders and victims' families hold earthquake memorial as death toll rises

Taiwanese leaders and relatives held a memorial service on Friday for victims of last weekend’s earthquake as the official death toll rose to 94.

President Ma Ying-jeou and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen both attended the ceremony, offering flowers and shaking hands with relatives and Buddhist monks before leaving without making any public remarks.

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Family members lit incense and bowed before the victims’ photographs, arranged in rows.

Friday marks the seventh day since the earthquake and a day of special mourning, according to traditional Chinese funeral rituals.

The death toll rose to 94 early on Friday, according to Taiwan’s Interior Ministry, with as many as 41 people still missing and presumed trapped under the rubble.

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All but two of the dead were residents at the Weiguan Golden Dragon apartment complex, which was the only building to collapse during the tremors that struck Tainan, Taiwan’s oldest city.