Taiwan apartment fire kills 13

A fire engulfed an apartment building in suburban Taipei before dawn today, killing at least 13 people and injuring dozens, officials said.

A prosecutor said the fire was started when a woman set herself alight after a family quarrel.

More than 70 people were hurt in the blaze, with many suffering fractures jumping from the eight-storey building in Luchou before firefighters arrived, Taipei County Chief Su Chen-chang said.

Police said the injured also suffered from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Police first suspected arson. A prosecutor later said a woman suspecting her husband had an affair tried to commit suicide by igniting turpentine from a paint shop run by the couple on the ground floor of the building.

Turpentine spilled on to the pavement and set light to scores of motorcycles parked there, prosecutor Lin Po-chih said.

A video camera installed at a nearby shop showed that the woman “poured turpentine on herself and became a fire ball” after she had a quarrel with her husband, Lin said.

The woman was hospitalised with burns over 80% of her body. Her husband suffered minor burns, police said.

“Flames shot up quickly through the main stairway, blocking the escape of many residents,” fire chief Yen Chen-chia said.

Television footage showed a woman holding her young son while sliding down a rope tied to the top floor railing, but they fell about two metres. Both needed hospital treatment, and the boy was in critical condition with head injuries, state radio reported.

Others also slipped from ropes in the thick smoke and fire, television reports said.

Firefighters said many residents tried to slide too quickly down the ropes, attached to the top several floors, and were forced to let go and fall to the ground.

It took more than an hour to put out the flames because fire trucks could not enter the narrow alleys leading to the building, Yen said.