1 more person confirmed dead in Pingtung fire, death toll rises to 9

Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Another individual has been confirmed dead following a fire that broke out at a Pingtung hospital on Thursday morning, bringing the death toll to nine.

According to county authorities, the victim was a hospital employee and one of two people initially reported missing in the blaze at Antai Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital in Donggang Township.

The employee, identified by his last name Wang (王), had fallen into cardiac arrest when firefighters pulled him from between the first and second-floor staircase in the hospital building at around 2 p.m.

He was later pronounced dead after efforts to resuscitate him failed, authorities said, noting that the other missing individual, a patient, had also been found and had escaped the fire on his own.

According to a press release issued by the Pingtung County government's Communication and International Affairs Division, a total of 324 patients who were staying in Block D of the hospital where the fire happened were rescued and transferred to other hospitals.

Lee Pin-cheng (李彬正), chief of the county's Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services, told reporters that firefighters were immediately deployed after it received a report of the fire at 7:41 a.m.

The blaze was extinguished around 1:08 p.m.

Pingtung authorities have yet to determine the cause of the fire, which reportedly started in the second-floor machine room.

As the room housed many electrical appliances and high-voltage power lines, the fire quickly spread to the third and fourth floors where a large amount of medical equipment was stored, making the rescue mission more difficult, Lee said.

The incident on Thursday left nine people dead, eight of whom were patients.

Su Ching-chyuan (蘇清泉), the president of Antai Hospital, said the deceased patients were bedridden, elderly people staying in the hospital who were cared for by caregivers.

Their bodies were found on the building's fifth, 10th and 11th floors, Su said.

Concerning the incident, Su said the hospital carries out routine fire inspections every month and that any equipment needing to be replaced is dealt with immediately.

Meanwhile, Su said he suspected the fire could be linked to the typhoon currently affecting Taiwan, given the hospital's electricity supply on Wednesday night was unstable.

Su, however, indicated that if the hospital were later found to be at fault, it would assume full responsibility.

According to the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office, an investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched.