4 members of family die after being trapped by burglar bars in Pingtung, Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Four family members perished in a fire on Thursday morning (Nov. 14) because they were unable to escape due to the extensive burglar bars installed on their home, while two children on the illegally built third floor were rescued when firefighters were able to break through the bars in time.

At 5:40 a.m. on Thursday morning, the Pingtung Country Fire Bureau received a report of a fire in a three-story house on Funing Road in Neipu Township. When firefighters arrived on the scene at 5:51 a.m., they saw smoke billowing out of the first floor and could hear the screams of two children trapped on the third floor, which had been illegally constructed with sheet metal, reported UDN.

Firefighters found that the two girls, aged 11 and 14, were trapped behind the burglar bars of a window. The firemen raised a ladder to the third floor, cut through the burglar bars, and successfully brought the girls to safety, reported CNA.

However, the children's father, a 46-year-old man surnamed Lee (李), his 78-year-old father, 73-year-old mother, and 9-year-old daughter all perished. After fire crews extinguished the blaze at 6:04 a.m., they found the bodies of the elderly couple on the first floor.    [FULL  STORY]