Taichung District Prosecutors Office (“the Office”) has investigated the gas explosion accident that occurred at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store located at Xitun District, Taichung City around noon on February 13 and resulted in serious casualties. Chief Prosecutor Chieh-Ching CHANG assigned Head Prosecutor Bao-Lin CHENG and the other five prosecutors to organize a special task force immediately rushing together with Prosecutor Cheng-Yen LEE and Prosecutor Chiu-Nong WU to the accident scene to understand the circumstances. They worked with the judicial police and the fire department to search and preserve evidence, and conduct investigation in order to clarify the cause of the gas explosion and who are responsible.

According to statistics, the accident has so far caused 4 deaths and 20 people were sent to hospital for treatment with minor or serious injuries. As the accident site was severely damaged, the exact number of deaths and injuries can only be confirmed after the site is cleaned up. In response to this serious and unfortunate incident, the Association for Victims Support Taichung Branch activated its caring mechanism at once to care for the families of the victims and provide necessary assistance at any time. The Office has kept monitoring the issue and maintained close contact with the Sixth Precinct of Taichung City Government Police Department, taking care of the autopsy procedures forthwith.