Two people died and two others were injured in a fire at a building that housed a pharmacy in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung City on Tuesday, according to local firefighters.
Soon after the fire broke out at around 1 a.m., a man in his 60s and surnamed Yu (?) escaped from the fire on his own, telling firefighters who had rushed to the scene that there were three other persons in the burning building.
Yu is the owner of the building, which housed San Tai Pharmacy that had been run by his family for over six decades.
The firefighters rescued Yu's wife, who is in her 60s, from the third floor, who was found unconscious. They then rescued Yu's mother, who was over 80, from dense smoke on the same floor, and a female caregiver on the 4th floor.
Yu's mother and the female caregiver were found to be without vital signs after they were taken from the burning building, the firefighters said.
The fire was extinguished at around 2 a.m. and all four people were rushed to a nearby hospital, the firefighters said, adding that Yu's wife and the foreign caregiver, whose identity had not yet been determined as of press time, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Taitung County Fire Department is investigating the source of the fire.
The burned building is located opposite ShowTime Cinema on Xinsheng Road in Taitung City. Yu and his family lived above the pharmacy in the same building. Being the second generation of his family to run the business, Yu was a pharmacist at the store.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel