Taiwanese woman, Thai man die in Taichung residential fire

Taichung, Oct. 7 (CNA) A Taiwanese woman and a Thai man died in a fire that broke out at a residential building in Waipu District of Taichung early Wednesday morning, according to the city's Fire Bureau.

The bureau said it received a report at 3:07 a.m. of a fire at a two-story residential building with a tin roof on Tucheng Road in the district.

Upon arrival, firefighters found a woman and a man dead inside the building, while the fire had spread to a nearby bamboo grove, burning an area of about 20 square meters, according to the bureau.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control at about 4:08 a.m. and extinguished it at 4:12 a.m., the bureau said.

Citing a preliminary investigation, the bureau said the woman was a Taiwanese national and the man was a Thai national.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, the bureau said.

According to local media reports, a couple had been living in the building before the fire broke out, and the deceased woman and man were suspected to have been the couple. The reports said the woman was in her 40s and the man was in his 50s.