Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, is currently in a state of disarray due to blasts caused by a gas explosion. The number of casualties has now surpassed 250, with bodies continuing to be discovered as the day progresses.
Eruptions began around midnight Thursday and continued into the morning Friday. Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) announced that residents had been reporting smells of leaking gas to authorities prior to the explosions.
Investigations are currently underway to uncover how the blasts could have occurred and who was responsible. It is currently assumed that the cause was underground gas leaks from petrochemical pipelines built alongside the city’s sewer system.
Gas Explosions Kill 25 in Taiwan
A destroyed fire truck is seen overturned in the rubble after massive gas explosions in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. A series of underground explosions about midnight Thursday and early Friday ripped through Taiwan's second-largest city, killing scores of people, Taiwan's National Fire Agency said.Wally Santana—APThe damaged road after the gas explosions in southern kaohsiung on August 1, 2014. Sam Yeh—AFP/Getty ImagesRescue personnel survey the wreckage after an explosion in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2014.Toby Chang—ReutersA car lands on top of a structure following an explosions that hit Kaohsiung city of Taiwan on July 31, 2013.TPG/Getty ImagesEmergency rescue workers move through the damage from a massive gas explosion in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2014. Wally Santana—APRelatives of the victims cry after an explosion in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2014. Edward Lau—ReutersDestroyed roads and buildings after a gas leak explosions in Kaohsiung, southeast China's Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2014He Junchang—Xinhua/Alamy Live NewsPeople walk across a gap caused by an explosion in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2014.Fifi Yu—ReutersA local resident checks the names of injured survivors at a hospital after gas explosions ripped through a neighbourhood in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung on Aug. 1, 2014.Sam Yeh—AFP/Getty Images
