Explosion at shopping mall in Taiwan : 5 dead

A gas explosion occurred Thursday morning at a department store in central Taiwan, leaving five people dead and 26 others injured, local authorities said, with renovation work inside the building cited as a potential cause of the blast.

The explosion happened on the 12th floor of the 14-story Shin Kong Mitsukoshi outlet in Taichung. Among the casualties, two of the dead and five of the injured were visitors from Macao, they said.

The two others killed in the blast were a female department store employee and a worker engaged in the renovation. About 200 people were evacuated from the building.

Five people were apparently blown out of the windows on the 12th floor of the store hosting restaurants in the city's Xitun District, local media quoted the Taichung Fire Bureau as saying, citing eyewitnesses.

Television news footage showed shattered glass on the street and smoke billowing from the building following the explosion. A man who was evacuated from the department store was quoted by Taiwan media as saying he had seen people lying down and others whose hair was burned.

A 30-year-old handyman who was working at a shop across the street from the department store said the shop building shook for about 10 seconds after the explosion and he later saw debris scattered all across the ground.

A 47-year-old resident who lives close to the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi outlet said of the explosion, "I thought it was an earthquake or maybe a bomb."

The department store is jointly run by Taiwan's Shin Kong Group and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. of Japan.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said in a Facebook post that the island's government is working on rescue and relief operations, and that he has asked relevant departments to clarify the cause of the accident as soon as possible.