A golf ball factory fire in southern Taiwan over the weekend claimed the lives of at least nine individuals, four of them were firefighters who perished in an explosion.
According to the local authorities, the fire, which broke out Friday evening and burned all night, also injured more than 100 individuals, the most of whom were employees of the plant in Pingtung county.
A county official told AFP that one person was still listed as missing because additional testing was necessary to confirm the identify of some body fragments discovered at the scene.
President Tsai Ing-wen and other top officials paid a visit to the spot on Saturday to offer their sympathies to the families of the victims and make a commitment to look into what started the fire.
One huge explosion and numerous minor explosions may have been caused by chemical peroxide stored within the plant, a Pingtung Fire Department spokesman informed local media.
The blasts forced a part of the factory roof to fall, trapping several individuals inside.
