Overnight building blaze in Taiwan raged for hours, 46 dead

At least 46 people were killed and another 41 injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a decades-old mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said.

Neighbourhood residents said the 13-storey building was home to many poor, elderly and disabled people and it wasn't clear how many of the 120 units were occupied.

Witnesses said they heard something that sounded like an explosion at about 3 a.m. when the blaze erupted in the building's lower floors, which housed a closed movie theatre, abandoned restaurants and karaoke clubs.

Lin Chie-ying said she was awoken in her home across from the fire by the sounds of ambulances and fire trucks.

"I thought our home would burn up too," she said.