Inspectors Find Safety Problems at Taichung Department Stores After Blast

TaiwanPlus News

Safety inspectors have found problems at Taichung-area department stores in checks held after a deadly blast last week at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping center.

Transcript

00:00Here, do you see the road sign?

00:03Look down.

00:05Inspectors with gas detectors combed this kitchen at a department store food court in Taichung,

00:11searching for the sort of leak thought to be behind a deadly blast at another shopping center in the city last week,

00:17the Sinkong Mitsukoshi department store.

00:20In all, six local department stores are getting checks,

00:23and it hasn't taken long to find possible dangers.

00:26Here, they've found a rusty gas connector with signs of leakage.

00:30They've shut the gas off just in case.

00:32And here, more cause for concern, this time in the electrical wiring department.

00:40Department stores where problems are found face fines if they don't fix them,

00:44but the city says there are limits to what it can do to enforce safety rules.

00:50The blast at the Sinkong Mitsukoshi may be linked to illegal renovation work going on at the time,

00:55and officials say with no one blowing the whistle, they had no way of knowing about potential violations.

01:12That doesn't mean there won't be consequences for the Sinkong Mitsukoshi store's owners.

01:16In addition to fines, they're paying over US$330,000 for each of the four people killed in the blast,

01:23two staff members and two passers-by.

01:26And they've already paid the 30-plus injured people compensation.

01:29Injured staff members, though, worry about the future.

01:32The shopping center is their livelihood.

01:34It's not only shut down indefinitely, but also heavily damaged from the explosion.

01:44Any reopening will be far off, though,

01:46as investigators still try to piece together how the disaster happened,

01:50and who in the end is responsible.

01:52Scott Huang and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.

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