Condolences given after Taiwan hospital fire

A Chinese mainland spokeswoman expressed condolences for a fire incident that broke out at a hospital in Taiwan's Pingtung county on Thursday morning and killed at least nine people.

According to reports from Taiwan media, the fire at the Antai Tian-Sheng Memorial Hospital in Donggang township in Pingtung on early morning claimed the lives of eight patients of the hospital and a hospital staff member who attempted to extinguish the fire.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, expressed deep sorrow over the tragic incident, offering condolences to the deceased Taiwan compatriots and sincere sympathies to the families of the victims and the injured.

The investigations into the cause of the fire are underway. It was not immediately clear whether the blaze was linked to Typhoon Krathon that made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday.

According to reports from the China Times website, Su Ching-chyuan, the hospital's president, apologized during a media interview and pledged to take full responsibility if the hospital were found at fault.

Su said that preliminary assessments indicated the fire originated in the electrical room on the second floor of the power supply center adjacent to Building D, where the incident occurred. Although the power supply center is a standalone building, it is connected to Building D, and he believed that the dense smoke may have spread to the wards through pipelines, according to the reports.

He said that concerns about the power outage at the hospital due to the typhoon, the hospital stockpiled a significant amount of diesel fuel for generator use, potentially leading to the excessive smoke production.