Skip to footer

Taiwan explosions kill 15, injure 228 in Kaohsiung

Taiwan's Premier Jiang Yi-huah said at least five gas explosions shook Kaohsiung. The National Fire Agency said five firefighters were among the dead.

|
AP
Flames from an explosion from an underground gas leak in the streets of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, early Friday, Aug. 1. A massive gas leakage early Friday caused five explosions that killed several people and injured over 200 in the southern Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung.
  • By Gladys Tsai Associated Press

| TAIPEI, Taiwan

A series of gas explosions on the streets of a southern Taiwanese city killed 15 people and injured 228 others late Thursday night, authorities said.

Taiwan's Premier Jiang Yi-huah said at least five explosions shook Kaohsiung. The National Fire Agency said five firefighters were among the dead.

Video from Taiwanese broadcaster ETTV showed a large fire burning the middle of a street, with smoke rising into the night sky.

A motorcycle and other debris were scattered across the middle of the roadway.

Mobile phone video captured the sound of a secondary explosion as flames leapt at least 30 feet (9 meters) into the air.

The force of the initial blast also felled trees lining the street. Local TVBS showed cars flipped over and shattered windows.

Power was cut off in the area, making it difficult for firefighters to search for others who might be buried in rubble.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Taiwan explosions kill 15, injure 228 in Kaohsiung
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0731/Taiwan-explosions-kill-15-injure-228-in-Kaohsiung
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe