The fire at an unfinished supermarket warehouse in Taichung that killed nine people was started by sparks from welding igniting flammable materials, investigators say.
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00:00Standing outside a hospital in Taichung, Mr. Guo is grappling with the loss of a family
00:05member in a fire that shocked the nation.
00:15The massive blaze at an unfinished warehouse facility of a major supermarket chain started
00:19on Thursday night, killing at least nine people and injuring eight more.
00:24Authorities now say the fire was started by welding sparks.
00:27Another report said the warehouse contained a lot of polystyrene material that caught
00:31fire quickly, creating dense clouds of toxic smoke.
00:35Investigators say that once the fire broke out, the flammable materials on site made
00:39it difficult for people to escape, and the labor ministry is criticizing the lack of
00:43safety measures in place.
00:44But Thursday's fire at the PX Smart facility is just one of many to hit warehouses and
01:06factories in Taiwan in recent months.
01:09An issue firefighters have been raising repeatedly is a call for more stringent safety regulations.
01:15Officials dealing with the most recent fire are also investigating whether the factory
01:19had illegally hired migrant workers, as two of the people who died were Vietnamese nationals.
01:24The city government is not threatening fines for such cases.
01:28PX Smart could be fined more than 9,000 U.S. dollars for each safety code violation.
01:45But as details emerge from the blaze, the hope for many here is that lessons can be
01:49learned to prevent another disaster from happening.
01:53Howard Zhang in Haimeokan for Taiwan Plus.
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