Five Hongkongers among 400 in hospital after flaming party dust scorches crowds at Taiwan water park
HKU professor says corn starch, when sprayed in concentrated form, would easily react with oxygen and cause a quick explosion
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 28 June, 2015, 10:11pm
UPDATED : Monday, 29 June, 2015, 12:55am
Ernest Kao, AP and Reuters
People attend to the fellow injured after the Formosa water park fire. Photo: Xinhua
Five Hongkongers were among more than 500 partygoers injured late on Saturday night when a large volume of flammable coloured corn starch set off a dust explosion at a water park in New Taipei City.
The Immigration Department confirmed yesterday that five Hongkongers – women aged 18 to 25 – had suffered burns in the incident at Formosa Fun Coast in Bali district.
“The extent of their injuries range from first-degree to third-degree burns,” said senior immigration officer Yeung Kwok-lung. “From our understanding, the condition of one of the victims is a bit more serious”.
A four-person team from the department was being sent to Taipei to help victims and family members, he said.
A total of 519 people were injured by the fire at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, just outside the capital, as the area sweltered in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.
Four-hundred nineteen people remained in 41 hospitals across Taiwan. About half were seriously injured, including 184 in intensive care.
New Taipei City deputy health chief Lee Lih-jong said the reason the burns were so severe was that in addition to burns to the skin, there were also injuries caused by burns to respiratory organs from the large amount of coloured powder inhaled.
“The next few days will be a critical time for the injured,” Taiwan Premier Mao Chih-kuo told reporters. Mao banned public activities that use the powder.
The fire, which broke out at around 8.30pm on Saturday, was sparked by an accidental explosion of a coloured theatrical powder thrown from the stage in front of about 1,000 people, the local fire agency and media said.
WATCH: Spectator has front-seat view of horrific moment coloured powder ignited blaze (WARNING - disturbing scenes)
Authorities have begun investigating the cause of the fire. “It remains under investigation as to what made the powder explode,” said local government official Lin Chieh-yu.
The powder for the one-time event called “Colour Play Asia” ignited along the ground, mainly burning people’s lower bodies, said Wang Wei-sheng, a liaison with the New Taipei City fire department command centre.
The coloured powder used is made with corn starch, which can be flammable under the right conditions.
Dr Fung Ying-sing of the University of Hong Kong’s department of chemistry said corn starch contained high-energy content and when sprayed out in concentrated particulate form would easily react with oxygen and cause a quick explosion.
The conditions for an explosion were even higher if the powder was shot out using oxygen gas tanks, he said, adding that ignition could have been caused by a cigarette or high-temperature spotlights. “Such dust explosions are more common in industrial accidents,” he said.
Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo - which will holds similar events including the outdoor Colour Run in December which also uses coloured corn starch - said it would work closely with organisers to ensure the safety of participants. It said the risk of corn starch being ignited outdoors was not high.
Injured victims are treated after an accidental explosion during a music concert at the Formosa Water Park in New Taipei City. Photo: AP
Five people were detained for questioning, including the head of the organising company, Lu Chung-chi, state news agency CNA reported. He Lu apologised and said he would take responsibility. The park’s general manager, Chen Hui-ying, said the venue was leased to the organiser and that they should have been responsible for safety.
Horrifying amateur video footage showed crowds of young revellers dancing in front of a stage and cheering as clouds of green and yellow powder covered them at the “colour party”. But their joy turned to terror when the powder suddenly erupted into flames, engulfing them in an inferno as they ran screaming for their lives.
One male student who sustained minor injuries described the scene as “hell”.
“There was blood everywhere, including in the pool where lots of the injured were soaking themselves for relief from the pain,” he told reporters.
His visibly shaken girlfriend added: “I saw lots of people whose skin was gone.”
Apart from Taiwanese, the victims included one each from Macau, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and another three foreigners whose nationalities were not disclosed.
President Ma Ying-jeou visited victims at a hospital in Taipei and said authorities would do their best to ensure victims receive “the best medical care” and find out who was responsible for the “tragic incident”.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency said that police were questioning two park workers who had launched the powder as well as the party’s on-site organiser and two technicians. They may face charges of professional negligence causing serious injuries and endangering the public, it said.
WATCH: Amateur video shows terrifying moments during dust explosion (WARNING - disturbing scenes)
The powder was a special feature of the festival which has also been held in previous years.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, rescuers treated hundreds of people, most of them aged between 20 and 30, who wore wet swimsuits and lay on inflatable plastic dinghies.
“There was blood and people were on fire,” one injured man said.
No death has yet been reported, but victims suffered burns on limbs and torsos, with some passing out from the pain while others had burnt clothes stuck to their skin, media reports and pictures showed.
The father of an 18-year-old girl with burns on 80 per cent of her body weeps during a visit by President Ma Ying-jeou (left) to comfort victims in a Taipei hospital. Photo: Reuters
“Her whole life is ruined,” sobbed the father of Chu Li, an 18-year-old girl with burns on 80 per cent of her body, during a visit by President Ma to victims in a Taipei hospital.
Soldiers, army vehicles and medical services joined the rescue effort, while hospitals in four municipal precincts, along with Taipei, are treating sufferers.
The amusement park has been closed temporarily.
With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse, Lawrence Chung
