5-year sentences requested for Pingtung factory fire executives

Taipei, Jan. 30 (CNA) Prosecutors have requested jail terms of up to five years for Launch Technologies Co. Chairman Liu An-hao (劉安皓) and five other executives for the roles they played in a factory fire in September 2023 that left 10 people dead and more than 100 injured.

The Pingtung District Prosecutors Office said Tuesday that after completing its investigation into the case it had decided to indict Liu, general manager Lu Ying-cheng (呂英誠), and four others on charges including involuntary manslaughter and negligence leading to injury.

In the indictment, prosecutors requested the maximum prison sentence allowed by law of five years for Liu and Lu due to their disregard for worker safety and having their employees work in a dangerous workplace in which they were constantly pressured to produce goods.

The indictment also said Liu and Lu failed to prepare safety data sheets that keep workers safe by displaying information on hazardous chemical products in the workplace, and that after the incident the two made excuses and tried to avoid any responsibility by blaming others for the fire.

The prosecutors office also recommended a jail term of four years and eight months or four years and 10 months for the other four executives.

According to the prosecutors office, the fire and subsequent explosions at the golf ball factory last year were triggered by the illegal storage of 3,000 kilograms of highly combustible organic peroxides used to manufacture the inner cores of golf balls.

Under Taiwanese regulations, the factory was only allowed to store a maximum of 100 kilograms of organic peroxides at a time, and they had to be stored at ambient temperatures of less than 30 degrees Celsius.

Poor storage of the organic peroxides at the factory likely led to the uncontrolled decomposition of the organic compounds and resulted in the fire and explosions, prosecutors alleged.

The blaze and subsequent explosions occurred at the company's factory in the Pingtung Technology Industrial Park on Sept. 22, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 10 people, including four firefighters, and injuring more than 100 people, including 14 firefighters.

In response, Advanced International Multitech (VN) Co., the parent company of Launch Technologies Co., said it "respected" the prosecutors office's decision and had reached settlements with a large number of victims and their families.

The company said it has set up a NT$500 million (US$15.51 million) trust fund for payments to affected employees, victims and the deceased firefighters' families.

As of Jan. 29, it has talked with 129 people affected by the incident, and reached settlements with the families of the victims and the injured in 89 cases, paying them about NT$240 million in compensation, according to the company.