Another person has died from injuries on Thursday (2nd July) in the aftermath of a fireball explosion at a Taiwan water park, according to the Central News Agency.
CNA wrote that Liu Chih-Wei, a 19-year-old student, suffered 99% burns in the incident which took place on Saturday (27th June) evening.
He is the 2nd fatality from the disaster, which saw crowds of young revellers engulfed in flames after being sprayed with clouds of multi-coloured corn starch. Around 1,000 spectators had attended the Color Play Asia event at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, just outside the capital Taipei. More than 200 suffered serious injuries and are being treated across 43 hospitals.
On Monday (29th June), a 20-year-old partygoer died after suffering 90% burns from the fireball that injured nearly 500 people in total, with organisers facing charges after plumes of decorative powder ignited.
The company which produced the starch said users had been warned of a potential fire hazard. While it has yet to emerge exactly how the blast was triggered, authorities have speculated that heat from the stage lighting or cigarettes could have ignited the corn starch. Full story here.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, news of the Taiwan blast caused panic as The Color Run Malaysia uses a similar concept i.e. coloured powder for its fun run. The Color Run’s organiser IMG Worldwide has since clarified that “the powder used in its events have been tested for flammability and successfully passed the required EU standards”.
