The death toll has risen to 46 due to fire in ‘Taiwan’ and left severy other’s injured

The death toll has risen to 46 due to fire in southern Taiwan that engulfed a building overnight, according to officials statement on Thursday confirming at least another 41 people were injured.

The 13-story building which caught fire around 3 a.m. Thursday, fire workers officials in the city of Kaohsiung said. A fire department statement said the blaze was ‘extremely fierce’ and destroyed many floors.

At least 11 bodies were sent straight to the morgue, Fire Chief Li Ching-hsiu told reporters at the scene. Another 14 people who showed no signs of life were among 55 taken to the hospital. In Taiwan, official confirmation of a death can only be made in the hospital. 

search and rescue efforts operation is going on as per the firefighters statement.

Video shown on Taiwanese television showed orange flames and smoke blowing out of the lower floors of the building as firefighters sprayed water at it from the street. After daybreak, they could be seen spraying water into the middle floors of the still-smoldering building from elevated platforms.

The cause of the fire was unclear, but firefighters noted the flames burned most intensely where a lot of clutter had been piled up, the fire department statement said.

Eyewitnesses told Taiwan media that they heard an explosion around 3:00 am. The building is about 40 years old with shops on the lower levels and apartments above. The lower floors were completely blackened.