Taiwan mourns death of earthquake victims

Dozens of people perished in southern Taiwan when a pre-dawn temblor registering a magnitude of 6.4 caused a poorly constructed high-rise apartment building to collapse in the city of Tainan.

In the latest update Saturday morning by Taiwan’s Interior Ministry, all but two of the dead were pulled from the ruins of the collapsed Weiguan Golden Dragon residential complex, a 17-story building.

The death toll from the natural disaster that struck southern Taiwan on Saturday had climbed to 94 as of 10:50 Friday, with about 30 people still missing.

Political leaders Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen attended the ceremony, offering flowers and shaking hands with relatives and Buddhist monks before leaving without making any public statements.

Friday was the seventh day since the quake occurred.

Rescuers started searching efforts soon after the quake and are still working hard to dismantle the building and search for the missing, but more than three days has passed since the previous survivor was rescued.

Lin and two of the men have been detained on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.

The government has also identified land owned by Lin – totaling at least 30 plots in Tainan – and has directed local authorities to prevent any sale of those assets.

In his Facebook post, Lai expressed his gratitude to the condolences extended by the pope to Tainan citizens after the quake and said that Tainanese will strive to rebuild their homes.