Residential fire in Chiayi kills daughter; elderly father missing

Chiayi, June 27 (CNA) A residential fire in Taibao City, Chiayi County, early Saturday morning left a woman dead and her elderly father missing, with rescue personnel continuing efforts to locate the man, according to local firefighters.

The Chiayi County Fire Bureau said it received a report at 4:59 a.m. of a fire at a two-story residential building in Taibao and immediately dispatched multiple fire engines and rescue personnel to the scene.

When firefighters arrived, the building, which consisted of a brick first floor and a metal-sheet second floor, was fully engulfed in flames, the bureau said.

According to the fire bureau, the home was occupied by a man, in his 80s, and his daughter, who served as his primary caregiver.

After the blaze was extinguished at 5:46 a.m., firefighters discovered the charred body of a woman, believed to be the daughter, at the rear of the first floor. The elderly man, however, remained unaccounted for.

As of 10 a.m., the father had yet to be located, the fire bureau said, adding that authorities had notified another daughter of the man to assist with matters related to the incident.

After visiting the scene to express concern over the tragedy, Taibao Mayor Cheng Shu-fen (鄭淑分) said she was shocked to learn that the property belonged to the father, a former secretary of the Taibao City Farmers Association, surnamed Hsu (徐).

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

(By Huang Kuo-fang and Frances Huang)

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