10 February 2016•Update: 12 February 2016
By Tevfik Durul
BEIJING
Taiwan police have arrested three executives of a defunct construction firm that built a high-rise whose collapsed resulted in most of the 45 deaths confirmed after a weekend earthquake.
The Taiwan-based China Post reported Wednesday that Lin Ming-hui, former chairman of the non-operational Weiguan company, and two executives are suspected of being responsible for the collapsed building in southern Tainan city.
Of the 45 fatalities confirmed in government statistics as of Wednesday afternoon, more than 40 were found in the 16-story residential complex in Yongkang district that was destroyed in the magnitude 6.4 tremor.
Of the 97 still unaccounted for, the majority are believed to be trapped in the Weiguan Jinlong building.
Prosecutors had sought the detention of the three executives on charges of professional negligence resulting in death, and they were taken into custody to prevent collusion that could lead to false testimonies.
The Post cited prosecutors as saying that the Weiguan company had changed its name after putting an end to its business operations.
Premier Simon Chang ordered Wednesday that government agencies fly flags at half-mast in commemoration of the victims on Monday after the Lunar New Year holiday.
The declaration came as he visited survivors receiving treatment at National Cheng Kung University Hospital, the official Central News Agency reported.
Among those he visited was Lee Tsung-tian, who was trapped for 56 hours before being rescued.
Lee, part of whose left leg had to be amputated due to the death of muscle from lack of blood, lost his girlfriend and three relatives when the Weiguan Jinlong complex collapsed, while three others remain missing.
More than 540 people sustained injuries as a result of the pre-dawn earthquake Saturday.
Mayor Lai Ching-te of Tainan, where around nine buildings collapsed, had earlier said that most of those still missing were trapped in lower stories, hindering rescue teams’ ability to access them.
Residents in Taiwan’s south and central regions had recalled experiencing tremors resembling those felt in a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in 1999 that killed more than 2,400 people.
Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen told a press conference after the earthquake that authorities would conduct an investigation into the Weiguan Jinlong building, whose construction had been completed in November 1994.
