Mayor sets up task force to probe Taiwan's deadliest fire for decades

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: The mayor of a Taiwanese city launched a task force on Friday to look into whether negligence played a part in a fire at a residential building that killed 46 people.

The fire in the 40-year-old housing block in Kaohsiung on Thursday was the island's deadliest blaze in more than two decades and has reignited concerns about fire safety in older buildings across Taiwan.

"We will ask the task force to investigate whether there's negligence in administrative management (practices)," Mayor Chen Chi-mai told reporters. "I deeply reflect on myself, and I will not evade my responsibility."