9 killed in Taiwan apartment fire

A fire in an apartment building, suspected to be deliberately started after a quarrel among tenants, killed nine people and left two injured, Taiwanese police said on Thursday.

The fire started on Wednesday night in a building with small apartments separated by wooden partitions -- mainly inhabited by migrant workers -- located in the Zhonghe district of New Taipei, Efe news reported.

The firefighters managed to extinguish the fire after an hour and discovered two charred bodies. The rest of the victims were sent to a nearby hospital, where seven of them later succumbed to their injuries.

In a security camera video, the police saw a man, identified as Li Kuo-hui -- of Sino-Myanmar ethnicity - allegedly throwing plastic bottles filled with inflammable material on the staircase and later setting them alight.

Li confessed under interrogation that he had had an altercation with a fourth floor resident, leading police to suspect him of carrying out a premeditated attack.

The suspect was arrested and police said that he had a record of committing two other acts of arson.

--IANS

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