Rescue personnel work at the site where a 17-storey apartment building collapsed after an earthquake hit Tainan, southern Taiwan, Feb. 7, 2016. (Photo : Reuters)
The Tainan City District Prosecutor Office continue to detain three executives of the developer of the collapsed 17-storey Wei-Guan Golden Dragon Building. Lin Ming-hui and architects Chang Kui-an and Cheng Chin-kui are held for overseeing the shoddy construction of the ill-fated building.
The apartment housed majority of the 46 Taiwanese killed by the magnitude-6.4 tremor on Saturday. Investigation showed the residential building used tin cans as construction material. The three are also accused of using only half of the fasteners required to support the columns of Wei-Guan, reported The Washington Post.
The basis of the prosecutor’s accusation is the discovery of blueprints that indicated 50 percent of the concrete beam stirrups were skimmed during the tower’s construction phase, according to the LA Times. The closed loops of rebar, called stirrups, support the concrete beams and columns which strengthens a building’s structure.
“Judging by the blueprints and the wreckage, we believe there are discrepancies in the quantities of steel beam stirrups used in reinforced concrete design, Taiwan News quoted a Tainan prosecutor.
Lin has been exposed to have filed for bankruptcy, yet had run several property development companies in the city to avoid paying creditors and cheat home buyers.
While no additional survivors have been discovered by rescuers since Monday night, on Tuesday, a 7-year-old white Maltese dog was rescued from the rubbles. The dog, named “Le Le,” which means “Happy” in English, is temporarily staying in an animal shelter while its owner, 50-year-old Lin Shiu-chu, is still recovering from fractured ribs and broken arms in a hospital. Search-and-rescue efforts are still ongoing.
