Taichung fire leaves one dead, another in critical condition

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) A fire broke out at a residential building in Taichung's Wuri District early Monday, killing a teenager and leaving her mother in critical condition.

The blaze occurred in a two-story sheet-metal building on Wuguang Road, according to the Taichung Fire Bureau, which said it received a report of the fire at 2:15 a.m.

Most of the flames and smoke were coming from the ground floor of the building, the bureau said, adding that the fire was extinguished at 2:44 a.m.

Two people were found on the upper floor of the building with no signs of life and were rushed to hospital, the bureau said.

One was a woman in her 50s, who had suffered second-degree burns to 80 percent of her body and was in critical condition at Chung Shan Medical University Hospital in Taichung, the bureau said.

Her 17-year-old daughter had sustained second-degree burns to 20 percent of her body and was later pronounced dead at the city's Asia University Hospital, according to the fire bureau.

The cause of the fire is being investigated, the bureau said.