Taiwan concert blaze injures 500

Nearly 500 people were injured, 141 seriously and eight critically, after a fire on a music stage spread into a crowd of spectators at a party Saturday night at a Taiwan water park, authorities said.

The fire was sparked by an accidental explosion of a coloured theatrical powder thrown from the stage in front of about 1,000 people, said Wang Wei-sheng, a liaison with the New Taipei city fire department command centre.

About 1,000 spectators had been at the Color Play Asia event at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, just outside the capital Taipei, according to officials.

The powder for the one-time event ignited along the ground, mainly burning people's lower bodies, said Wang Wei-sheng, a liaison with the New Taipei City fire department command centre.

“Our initial understanding is this explosion and fire ... was caused by the powder spray. It could have been due to the heat of the lights on the stage,” said a spokesperson for the New Taipei City fire department.

Lee Lih-jong, deputy chief of the health bureau of the New Taipei City government, said 509 people had been injured, with 188 of them seriously hurt. The injured included four mainland Chinese and two foreigners.

Footage on the Apple Daily newspaper website showed crowds dancing as music played and clouds of powder being sprayed out which suddenly turned into a blaze that engulfed the spectators.

People were shown running for their lives, screaming, as they were overtaken by flames. Some were dressed only in swimwear and covered in the coloured powder.

Victims were carried away on rubber rings and inflatable dinghies as friends desperately tried to get them out.

Bystanders poured bottles of water on the scorched skin of the injured. Trails of bloody footprints leading away from the stage remained, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The severely wounded are being treated in intensive care units at 37 different hospitals.

“The reason why the burns were so severe was that in addition to burns to the skin, there were also injuries caused by burns to the respiratory organs from the large amount of colour powder inhaled,” the health bureau's Lee told AFP.

Police said that Lu Chung-chi, event manager, and four other event workers had been detained.

“They will be transferred to prosecutors for further investigation on charges of offences against public safety and negligence of duties that caused severe injuries,” Yen Po-ren, New Taipei police spokesman, told AFP.