A grieving relative prays in front of photographs of some of the earthquake victims during Friday’s memorial service in the Taiwanese city of Tainan. Photo: EPA

Taiwanese leaders and victims' families hold earthquake memorial as death toll rises

Taiwan’s president-elect Tsai Ing-wen among mourners at service as officials say number of people killed by last weekend’s quake rose to 94 on Friday, with up to 41 people still missing

Associated Press

Published: 3:00pm, 12 Feb 2016

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Taiwanese leaders and relatives held a memorial service on Friday for victims of last weekend’s earthquake as the official death toll rose to 94.

President Ma Ying-jeou and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen both attended the ceremony, offering flowers and shaking hands with relatives and Buddhist monks before leaving without making any public remarks.

Taiwan’s opposition leader and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (centre) attends Friday’s memorial service. Photo: EPA

Family members lit incense and bowed before the victims’ photographs, arranged in rows.

Friday marks the seventh day since the earthquake and a day of special mourning, according to traditional Chinese funeral rituals.

The death toll rose to 94 early on Friday, according to Taiwan’s Interior Ministry, with as many as 41 people still missing and presumed trapped under the rubble.

READ MORE: Building collapse during deadly Taiwan earthquake linked to shoddy materials

Grieving relatives attend FRiday’s memorial service for the earthquake victims in Tainan. Photo: EPA

All but two of the dead were residents at the Weiguan Golden Dragon apartment complex, which was the only building to collapse during the tremors that struck Tainan, Taiwan’s oldest city.

A tearful woman attends Friday’s memorial service in Tainan. Photo: EPA

Authorities detained the building’s developer Lin Ming-hui and two architects this week on suspicion of negligent homicide amid accusations that his company had cut corners during the building’s construction.

Pictures of the ruins, which showed that tin cans and foam were used as fillers in the concrete, have exacerbated public anger over the latest safety scandal to hit the island.

READ MORE: Collapse of apartment block during Taiwan earthquake sparks anger over island’s building safety standards

Rescue workers continue searching for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise block of flats in on Thursday. Photo: Kyodo

On Friday Tainan’s district court gave the city government approval to freeze up to TW$30 million ($908,623) in assets belonging to the building’s developer Lin Ming-hui and three associates, according to a government statement.

“The Tainan district court handled it quickly, and granted... provisional seizure up to NT$30 million (HK$7 million) in assets of the related people,” the statement said.

It added that the move was to prevent the developer and associates from “disposing of assets”.

Tainan city officials ssay they will inspect several dozen other developments built by Lin, as well as other buildings in the Weiguan compound that did not collapse.

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