Blast that burned hundreds at Taiwan water park may have been started by spark, cigarette butt

Investigators in Taiwan were focusing on Monday on the possibility that a cigarette butt or spark caused the blaze that burned more than 500 people at a weekend water park party when coloured powder sprayed from the stage caught fire.

More than 400 people remained in hospital, 200 in a serious condition, city officials said. Eight suffered life-threatening injuries, local media reported.

Police recommended criminal charges against the organiser of Saturday’s party, as well as two technicians, at the Formosa Fun Coast theme park in suburban Taipei.

“It’s still not clear what happened, but there were a number of people smoking and the weather was warm,” New Taipei City news department head Lin Chieh-yu said. Temperatures around greater Taipei topped 36 degrees Celsius before the party.

The three tonnes of coloured starch-based powder bought by the organisers from Tai Won, a seller in the island’s southern county Yunlin, were flammable, said Chou Hui-fang, a representative of the seller. She said the buyer was informed about the risk of fire.

“Whether it’s corn starch or flour starch, this kind of stuff, no matter how long it’s been around, if it’s in dense quantities and if it’s hot, it can catch fire,” Chou said. She said her four-year-old company has been questioned by police and health officials but was not considered at fault.

“We didn’t know what the buyers were going to do with it or how much they would use,” she said. “It might have been supplies for a whole year.”