‘Sea of flames’: 46 killed, dozens injured in Taiwan apartment fire

Taipei: At least 46 people were killed and dozens more sustained serious injuries after a huge blaze erupted at a 13-storey residential and commercial building in southern Taiwan, officials say. 

As per reports, fire erupted in the building in early hours of Thursday morning. It took firefighters more than four hours to extinguish the blaze. 

As per fire department, 79 people had been taken to hospital, including 14 in a critical condition. 

The cause of the fire, however, is unclear and investigators are at the scene. 

Officials earlier warned that people may have been trapped in the residential part of the building, between the seventh and 11th floors.

A number of residents in the block of about 120 apartments are thought to be old or to have disabilities.

Built in the 1980s, Taiwan’s third-biggest city, had once housed restaurants, karaoke bars and a movie theater, but these were reportedly no longer in use. 

But conditions in the building began to deteriorate after a fire broke out there in 1999, according to local reports. While no one died in that fire, the building was partly abandoned.

Several developers tried to take over and renovate the building in recent years.