Quarantine Hotel Fire Victims Leave Behind Videos 喬友大樓大火 檢方:4死者中3人嗆傷致死

Four people died in the Changhua quarantine hotel fire. A video recorded by one of the victims before his death revealed guests were ordered to remain in their rooms despite the fire. Victims' families say they may seek state compensation.
 

Mr. Chen was one of the victims of the Changhua quarantine hotel fire. He left a final video behind before he died, saying he didn't know if he was allowed to leave his room.

I don't know whether what to do. I'm afraid they'll fine me if I leave my room.

Chen was a missionary who returned to Taiwan on June 27. Another guest, a Mr. Lu, recently returned to Taiwan after a business trip. Like Chen, he was told not to leave his room and recorded a final goodbye for his family. Fortunately for him, he was rescued in time.

I couldn't open my eyes. If I had died, you better take care of things.

Human lives have to come first in this kind of situation. Instead, they were ordered to go back to their rooms.

Changhua prosecutors say smoke inhalation has been ruled cause of death for three of the four people that died. One of the victims, an Indonesian migrant worker, tested positive for COVID-19 post-mortem. Victims' family members questioned why hotel guests were not evacuated to higher floors when the fire started on the second floor of the building. In addition, the guests were told the fire alarm was only a test." They blame the hotel operator for the injuries and loss of lives. The hotel operator says he believed the fire alarm went off erroneously because there were no signs of fire on the floors of the building occupied by the hotel. As the guests were all supposed to be in quarantine, he decided to order the guests back into their rooms.

We need more education and training on fire safety and evacuation.

The Central Epidemic Command Center says quarantine hotel operators should know how to respond when there is a fire. Victims' families say they may apply for state compensation if it is confirmed the guests were not allowed to leave their rooms for "epidemic prevention" reasons.
 

入住彰化喬友大樓檢疫旅館不幸罹難的陳先生，拍下這段最後的影片，紀錄火災發生的情況，當時濃煙密布，但因為自己是居家檢疫者，不知道究竟該不該逃命。

已罹難防疫旅館住客 陳先生表示：「我也不知道，要跑還是不要跑？怕跑出去，又要叫我們罰錢了。」

陳先生是一名傳教士，6月27號回台後進行居家檢疫，但卻遇上這場火警。另外一名呂先生，他到國外出差回國隔離中，差一週就可以解隔離，卻也因為不敢逃離，錄了遺言給家屬，所幸最後獲救。

防疫旅館住客 呂先生表示：「喔，眼睛要張不開了。我如果死掉了，你那邊要好好顧好呀！」

呂先生家屬表示：「碰到這狀況的時候，是人命優先，還是叫他們回到房間去呀？」

彰化檢方表示，四名死者有3人是吸入性嗆傷致死，而罹難的印尼移工檢測後陽性反應，死因有待釐清。家屬質疑起火點在2樓，但為何不往上疏散，而且還聽到警報說是測試，延誤撤離時間，認為旅館業者處理失當。業者表示，當時起火點在二樓，並非在防疫旅館樓層，因此先安撫是警鈴誤觸。住民又是隔離對象，擔心造成破口，才要求先在房內。

中央流行疫情指揮中心副指揮官 陳宗彥表示：「動線等等，這些救災指引，一定要充分教育訓練。」

陳宗彥表示，開設防疫旅館的同時，對於災害發生當下如何逃生都有指引作業，遇到火災或災害警報時就依序逃生。但家屬表示，如果因為防疫考量不讓居檢者離開，不排除提出國賠。