Update | Five Hongkongers among 400 in hospital after flaming party dust scorches crowds at Taiwan water park
HKU professor says corn starch, when sprayed in concentrated form, would easily react with oxygen and cause a quick explosion
Five Hongkongers were among more than 500 partygoers injured late on Saturday night when a large volume of flammable coloured corn starch set off a dust explosion at a water park in New Taipei City.
The Immigration Department confirmed yesterday that five Hongkongers – women aged 18 to 25 – had suffered burns in the incident at Formosa Fun Coast in Bali district.
“The extent of their injuries range from first-degree to third-degree burns,” said senior immigration officer Yeung Kwok-lung. “From our understanding, the condition of one of the victims is a bit more serious”.
A four-person team from the department was being sent to Taipei to help victims and family members, he said.
A total of 519 people were injured by the fire at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, just outside the capital, as the area sweltered in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.
Four-hundred nineteen people remained in 41 hospitals across Taiwan. About half were seriously injured, including 184 in intensive care.
New Taipei City deputy health chief Lee Lih-jong said the reason the burns were so severe was that in addition to burns to the skin, there were also injuries caused by burns to respiratory organs from the large amount of coloured powder inhaled.