HOTEL SEARCH: The last two bodies cannot be removed from the remains of the Yun Men Tsui Ti building until the floors above them have been dismantled due to a girder
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 12, 2018
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Two Chinese tourists missing since a magnitude 6.o earthquake hit the nation on
Rescue workers bow at the foot of the collapsed Yun Men Tsui Ti building in Hualien City yesterday after Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi called off the search for more survivors or victims in the building. Photo: CNA
Tuesday last week were confirmed dead yesterday, Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) said, raising the quake’s death toll to 17.
The pair were members of a family that had checked into the Beauty Inn (漂亮生活旅店) in the Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤) building.
Fu’s announcement came after authorities called off further search efforts in the building at about 10am, 106 hours after the earthquake shook Hualien city and county, as well as a wide swathe of northern Taiwan and the east coast.
A group of search-and-rescue personnel bowed in front of the building, one of four that partly collapsed in the city, as a mark of respect before teams withdrew from the site to allow heavy machinery to start razing the complex. [FULL STORY]