A fire accompanied by large explosions broke out early on Aug. 22 on a vacant lot in Tainan's Annan District, injuring 15 people including three firefighters and damaging 68 homes. Investigators say magnesium and aluminium metal waste had been stored on the site.
Repeated explosions set 11 nearby homes directly alight and affected 57 others, bringing the damage count to 68 households. Three of the 15 injured were firefighters who had responded to the scene.
광고 문의 · 300×250Metal waste that reacts with water
Authorities believe aluminium and magnesium-based material buried on the lot reacted violently with water, producing the successive explosions. The intense white flames observed at the scene are consistent with the combustion characteristics of such metals.
Fires of this type are difficult to fight because conventional water application can intensify the reaction. That an ambulance and fire vehicles were damaged in the blasts indicates the initial response took place under conditions that were hard to anticipate.
The operator had already left the country
The head of the company that stored the waste has been confirmed to have left Taiwan. He was already the subject of a wanted notice issued by Tainan prosecutors in a separate case. Authorities are examining how the waste arrived and how it came to be stored there.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che began emergency accommodation for the 11 worst-affected households and approved NT$20,000 per household in immediate assistance. Premier Cho Jung-tai said medical care would be provided for the injured firefighters.
What remains at issue
The core question is how hazardous waste came to sit for an extended period on a vacant lot beside housing. Under scrutiny are the system for cross-checking waste-handling registrations against actual storage sites, and the tracking of movements between local jurisdictions. Hwagyo Sibo does not assign responsibility before findings are issued, but notes that damage to 68 homes is itself a measure of the scale of the regulatory failure.
