The Macau Government Tourism Office’s (MGTO) tourism crisis assistance team, in conjunction with the Macau Red Cross, travelled to central Taiwan’s Taichung City on Thursday to provide appropriate assistance to the Macau victims of the gas explosion at a department store there, as well as their family members – and MGTO said in a statement yesterday that the first stage of the assistance work has been completed, with the team and Macau Red Cross having returned to Macau, adding that MGTO will continue to assist the family members in Macau in liaising with the relevant entities to expedite follow-up arrangements for handling the remains.
The tourism crisis assistance team and staff members of the Macau Red Cross returned to Macau yesterday, during which MGTO Public Relations Division Chief Liz Lam Tong Hou told public broadcaster TDM at the local airport that the team and the Macau Red Cross met with the victims’ family members again on Sunday to summarise the follow-up situation, and returned to Macau after ensuring sufficient communication with the family.
In the statement, MGTO pledged to maintain close communication with the family members, keeping track of the situation and providing them with the necessary support and appropriate assistance.
The statement summarised the assistance provided by the crisis assistance team and the Macau Red Cross in Taichung, noting that upon their arrival on the night of the accident, the team, along with the Macau Red Cross, visited the injured in several hospitals and conveyed Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai’s deepest condolences and sympathies while, at the same time, taking note of their requests and offering all appropriate assistance.
The statement added that the team also accompanied the family members to meet with undertakers and legal professionals in Taichung, having followed up on the subsequent handling and arrangement of the remains, as well as compensation for the seven Macau victims, two of whom were killed by falling debris caused by the gas blast.
According to the statement, the mechanism of the Tourism Crisis Assistance Team was activated upon receiving notification of a gas explosion in Taichung on Thursday that killed two local residents and injured five others – a family of four generations, including a retired policeman, who died at the scene of the accident, and an in-service police officer, who sustained injuries.
The statement noted that among those from Macau injured in the disaster, two were discharged from hospital on Friday after treatment, two others were in stable condition yesterday after surgery last week, while one – a two-year-old girl – was still in the intensive care unit (ICU) yesterday after craniotomy, a surgical procedure in which a portion of the skull (called a bone flap) is removed to access the brain.
Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Public Relations Division Chief Liz Lam Tong Hou speaks to reporters at the local airport upon her and her team’s arrival from Taiwan yesterday evening. – Photo courtesy of TDM
