Part of an exterior wall is seen ripped off on February 13, 2025, at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store in Taichung, Taiwan, where an explosion occurred earlier in the day. Photo: KyodoA massive explosion in a department store in the Taiwanese city of Taichung on Thursday killed four people, including two visitors from Macau, according to city fire authorities.
The blast occurred at around 11.30am at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store and injured 26 people.
Taichung’s fire department said a gas leak ignited by renovations on the 12th floor of the store might have caused the explosion.
A hospitalised two-year-old girl from Macau is in critical condition.
Her grandfather and grandmother are among the dead.
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The girl and her grandparents were part of a family group of seven who were passing the department store on their way to another shopping area when the explosion erupted, authorities said.
“The four fatalities include two grandparents from Macau struck by blast debris, and two department store workers found unresponsive on the stairway between the 11th and 12th floors,” a fire department officer said by phone.
China Times said the blast blew debris from the exterior wall and windows hundreds of metres and was felt up to 2km (1.2 miles) away.
A shopper told the TVBS news channel that she was terrified by the explosion. “I smelled gas … so I just grabbed my bag, umbrella and phone and ran, leaving behind everything I had just bought to save my life,” she said.
At Lin Shin Hospital, an 85-year-old woman from the Macau family group was among 11 people receiving medical care.
The woman had a fracture, and her life was not in danger, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA). Taichung mayor Lu Shiow-yen visited the two hospitals treating the injured.
The Macau tourism office said it was deeply concerned about the incident.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which oversees cross-strait policy, said it had sent officials to Taichung and would give all necessary help to the victims’ families.
“We have also informed the Macau government of the incident and will help facilitate travel arrangements for other family members to Taiwan,” MAC spokesman Liang Wen-chieh said.
The city’s fire department sent at least 62 firefighters and 27 fire trucks to the scene to help with rescue efforts, CNA reported.
United Daily News said heavy traffic in the area initially hampered efforts by ambulances to reach the blast site.
Taichung police later imposed emergency traffic controls on surrounding roads.
Rescue efforts for the injured ended at about 5pm, and authorities confirmed that no one else was trapped at the scene.
The city’s prosecutor’s office said it had assigned six prosecutors to form a special task force to work with police and fire departments to collect evidence and conduct an investigation.
They would clarify the cause of the explosion and determine who was responsible, the office said.
Taichung deputy mayor Cheng Chao-hsin told CNA that the gas explosion was being treated as a “major incident” and that the city government had committed to a thorough investigation.
Cheng said there was some subsidence at the building, and structural engineers and civil engineers were at the scene to assess whether there was any further threat to public safety or the building.
The incident is the largest department store workplace safety accident in Taiwan’s history, according to China Times.