Indonesian caregiver dies, elderly woman left unconscious in New Taipei fire

New Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) A fire broke out early Thursday morning at a residential unit in a recycling depot in New Taipei's Xizhi District, claiming the life of an Indonesian caregiver and leaving her 86-year-old care recipient unconscious, the city's fire department said.

The fire department was notified about the fire at 2:40 a.m. and dispatched 82 personnel to the recycling depot that measures 40 pings (about 132 square meters), where the two victims lived.

The large amount of recycled materials made rescue operations challenging. Firefighters succeeded in pulling out the two women at 3:48 a.m.

The 86-year-old woman, surnamed Kuo (郭), was unconscious but had vital signs, whereas the 41-year-old Indonesian woman was in a state of OHCA (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest). After being sent to the hospital, she was pronounced dead.

The fire department said that the fire was extinguished at about 4 a.m. and that the cause of the fire is under investigation.