Taipei (AsiaNews) - A series of gas explosions in a district of Kaohsiung,
the largest city in the south of the island, has caused
dozens of deaths and hundreds of
injuries, ripping up roads and
destroying cars. As of noon today,
according to official sources, there are 24 victims and more
than 270 wounded. The dead include four firefighters who were killed while battling ensuing fires.
Elton is an
eyewitness. He lives in the Cianjhen
neighborhood (前 镇区) in Kaohsiung for two
years and teaches English at a secondary school in the area.
"It's complete madness!" he exclaims on the phone. "It all began just before midnight. I got up and looked out the window and saw what seemed to be a scene from some apocalyptic movie." "The neighborhood - he adds - is usually very quiet, so it was even more shocking, we did not understand what was happening. I saw flames, literally, exploding cars, people thrown to the ground with the road exploding under their feet. Incredible, really incredible ... ".
According to preliminary investigations, the underground
gas pipe broke under in an area of
2-3 square kilometers. The gas leak caught fire and then erupted destroying various
roads of Kaohsiung and killing and wounding hundreds of people.
Firefighters and ambulances arrived from all over the
area and from neighboring cities to
extinguish the flames and rescue the
victims.
To give an idea of the force of the explosion, at least two people were hurled onto
the roof of a five-story building.
They are safe although injured and
were transported to the hospital.
In some cases, the flames engulfed buildings 20 stories high; in other's craters were
formed by bomb-like explosions.
The city's mayor, Ms. Chen Chu, said on television that
"the rescue operations are
still at maximum level and
it is hoped that the number of dead
will not rise".