Badminton players flee as sport centre collapses in Taiwan earthquake
Astonishing moment badminton players flee for their lives in Taiwan as sports centre ceiling collapses during 6.8 magnitude earthquake
- Taiwan hit by powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake on Sunday afternoon
- One man died and nine were injured close to epicentre on south of island
- But tremor was also felt in the north, causing sport centre ceiling to collapse
- One man was injured as CCTV captured the moment debris crashed down
This is the dramatic moment the ceiling of a badminton court collapsed on top of players during an earthquake in Taiwan on Sunday.
Around two dozen people were playing at the Bade Sports Center in Taoyuan City – around 20 miles west of capital Taipei – shortly before 3pm when the quake hit.
Footage shows how the ceiling – which was only renovated in recent days – collapsed and sent players fleeing for their lives, leaving one man lightly injured.
It happened as Taiwan was hit by a magnitude 6.8 tremor centered near the town of Chishang, in the south of the island, which killed one person and injured nine.
People flee as the ceiling of a sports centre in Taoyuan City, northern Taiwan, collapses during an earthquake that struck on Sunday afternoon
One man was injured by falling debris at the Bade Sports Center in Taoyuan City after the island of Taiwan was hit by an earthquake
Taiwan was hit by a series of tremors at the weekend which badly damaged some parts of the island, killing one man and injuring at least nine
The dead man was a cement factory worker who was killed when a three-storey building with a corner shop on the ground floor collapsed.
The 70-year-old owner of the building and his wife were rescued first, but it took longer to get to a 39-year-old woman and her 5-year-old daughter.
A photo released by the Hualien city government showed the girl lying on a blanket and being handed down a metal ladder from the top of the debris by helmeted rescue workers in orange uniforms.
The top two stories of the building were left sprawled across a small street and onto the other side, with electricity wires pulled down by the fallen structure.
More than 7,000 households were reported without power in Yuli, and water pipes were also damaged.
Shelves and musical instruments fell over at the Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church and a long crack ran down its floor.
Outside, the pavement was broken into slabs of concrete.
Police and firefighters rushed to a bridge collapse on a two-lane road in what appeared to be a rural part of the same town where three people and one or more vehicles may have fallen off, according to media reports.
Also in Yuli, a landslide trapped nearly 400 tourists on a mountain famous for the orange day lilies that blanket its slopes this time of year, the Central News Agency said. They had no electricity and a weak cellphone signal.
Debris from a falling canopy on a platform at Dongli station in Fuli town, which is between Yuli and the epicenter at Chishang, hit a passing train, derailing six cars, the Central News Agency said, citing the railway administration.
None of the 20 passengers were injured.
About 400 tourists were also stranded on the side of a mountain after the quake damaged infrastructure required to get them down.
Rescue teams were dispatched to bring the people down in batches, with the last group of 90 being rescued on Monday morning.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for several southern Japanese islands near Taiwan, but later lifted it.
Taiwan, which sits on a seismologically active arc known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is frequently hit by earthquakes.
The self-governing island lies 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of mainland China.
An aerial view shows the collapsed Kaoliao bridge in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien county
A photo taken by drone shows a three story building that collapsed after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Yuli Township
Local authorities conduct a clearing operation from a building that collapsed after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit in Yuli Township
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