MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Blasts caused by leaked gas killed at least 25 people and injured over 270 in Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung, The Washington Post reported Friday.
According to a statement published on the Taiwanese National Fire Agency website, the gas leak started at 8.46 p.m. local time (12.46 p.m. GMT) and three hours later a number of explosions occurred.
Firefighters, who were struggling to stop the blaze caused by the explosions all night, were among the dead, along with policemen.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said that the government will do anything possible to make sure such incidents will not happen again in the future.
“We will make further arrangements and inspections to avoid this kind of disaster from occurring again," Reuters quoted Ma as saying in comments shown on television.
“Last night around midnight, the house started shaking and I thought it was a huge earthquake, but when I opened the door, I saw white smoke all over and smelled gas,” The Washington Post quoted local resident Chen Qing-tao as saying.
The explosions struck a district where petrochemical plants operate pipelines alongside the sewer system of Kaohsiung.
According to the officials, the fires were believed to have been caused by a leak of propene, a petrochemical material not intended for public use, but the source of the gas was not immediately clear.
The causes of the explosions are now being investigated.
The Taiwanese Economic Affairs Ministry stated that the incident cut gas supplies to 23,600 households, power to 7,536 households, and water supplies to 8,000 homes in the area.
More than 1,100 people have been evacuated from the area.
The exploded gas line belongs to government-owned China Petroleum Corporation (CPC). The company halted some petrochemical deliveries following the blasts, but declined to give any information about the incident, The Associated Press reported.
Kaohsiung is located in southwest Taiwan. It is the second-largest city in the country by population, with 2.8 million inhabitants.
According to AP, it is not the first time Kaohsiung has experienced a deadly gas blast. In 1997, an explosion killed five people when a CPC team tried to unearth a section of pipeline during a construction project.
