GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: Some readers may find the graphic nature of this article and the discussion of the trauma within upsetting. Please exercise personal caution.
A water park is the last place where you would expect a deadly dust explosion to occur, as it’s a recreational site where combustible dust is neither manufactured nor produced as a byproduct. However, in June 2015, a singular combination of poorly educated staff, hot stage lights, and dangerously mishandled dust killed 15 people, injured nearly 500 others, and caused Taiwan’s largest medical emergency since the 1999 earthquake in Jiji.
June 27, 2015
Over 4,000 young people flocked to the Formosa Fun Coast water park in New Taipei, Taiwan. Many were students, celebrating the close of a school year at the Colour Play Asia party, a well-advertised rave that combined loud music and spectacular colour effects.
At around 8:30 p.m., a cheer arose from the crowd. Using air blowers and compressed gas canisters, event staff had dispersed yellow and green cornstarch everywhere to create an effect similar to India’s Festival of Colours. Some of the powder was suspended in the air as a dense, colourful cloud while the rest piled ankle-deep among the celebrants closest to the stage.
Seconds later, everyone’s exhilaration turned to terror. The coloured corn starch erupted into flames, creating a fireball that ripped through the crowd. It was a scene that witnesses later described as “hell.”
The coloured powder erupted into flames, creating a fireball that ripped through the crowd.
Horrifying amateur video footage later revealed hundreds of young people, many of them dressed in swimwear due to the day’s excessive heat, screaming as they ran for their lives. The powder on the ground also caught fire, severely burning the feet, legs, and torsos of partygoers. Some victims suffered burns on up to 90% of their skin.
One young man who witnessed the devastation later told the press, “Everyone was screaming and there was blood everywhere. The waterway [used for inflatable boat rides] was filled with blood because everyone was dipping themselves in it [to soothe their burns].”
According to the authorities, the fire was quickly extinguished. For those affected, however, the nightmare had just begun.
“All of her skin was gone. Her hands were shaking… and she kept calling for me.”
Some victims were so badly burned that their skin sloughed off when touched, forcing rescuers to carry them out of the park on swim rings. The mother of one victim, who rushed to the site when news of the disaster spread, found her badly-burned daughter lying on an inflatable boat.
“All of her skin was gone,” the woman later wept. “Her hands were shaking… and she kept calling for me.”
A young woman named Chen Wan-hsuan received second and third-degree burns on more than 70% of her body, effectively ending her dream of becoming a model. Her distraught father said he hoped that his presence at the hospital would encourage her to live, as he couldn’t “imagine what sort of future she is going to have.”
Another victim, a young man named Chen who wanted to play professional baseball one day, suffered burns on more than 60% of his body, most on his extremities. He was one of many whose dreams went up in smoke that day.
Fifteen would die from the incident and almost 500 were injured.
Response to the tragedy was immediate. New Taipei City’s mayor Eric Chu ordered the water park closed temporarily while Taiwan Premier Mao Chi-kuo banned the use of coloured powders at private events pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Fire Department’s preliminary conclusion was that the sprayed powder had caused the fire and the hot stage lights were the likely source of ignition. Lu Chung-chi, who headed the two companies (Colour Play and Juipo International Marketing) that rented the event site, admitted that he had bought three tons of the powder, which consisted of cornstarch and food colouring. However, he denied knowing how the explosion could have occurred.
When contacted by investigators, the vice president of Tai Won Food Industrial Company, which made the cornstarch, said that the packages contained warnings about using it in enclosed spaces or under high temperatures.
“If it’s in dense quantities and if it’s hot, [the powder] can catch fire,” he explained.
Flammable powder, a multitude of ignition sources and negligence.
Negligence was further suggested when Lu Shou-chien, a WuFeng University fire science department instructor and Taichung Harbor Fire Department deputy captain, told the Chinese-language United Daily News that smoking had been permitted at the event. He also indicated the organizers had not used water sprays, which would have reduced the risk of ignition.
While the search for fault continued, the victims and their families struggled with their changed futures. In October 2015, a committee set up by the New Taipei City government to handle incoming donations announced that survivors were to receive between NT$65,000 and NT$6.5 million, depending on the severity of their injuries. The families of the twelve victims who had died were awarded NT$8.25 million. (By November, the death count would be fifteen.)
That same month, Shilin District prosecutors finally charged Lu Chung-chi with negligence. Seven months later, in April 2016, he was found guilty. Judge Kuo Hui-ling at Shihlin District Court declared that even though Lu knew the powder was flammable, he had not warned the event staff or stopped them from throwing it close to hot lights. In 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Many Taiwanese people, including the families of the victims, complained that the sentence was too light, but prosecutors were helpless. According to the law, the maximum punishment for workplace negligence leading to death was only five years in prison.
Despite the magnitude of the disaster, the maximum penalty by law was only five years in prison.
As the years passed and victims came to understand their injuries had incurred permanent damage, more lawsuits were brought before the courts.
In December 2020, one woman was awarded NT$6.02 million ($213,504 USD) in compensation from Formosa Fun Coast’s proprietors and Lu Chung-chi. It was the first court decision to find the venue also liable, as previous rulings had only ordered compensation from Lu Chung-chi.
The judge stated that:
- The water park company knew the rented site was at the far end of the park, with no easy vehicle access, which delayed ambulance arrival that night.
- Formosa Fun Coast and Lu Chung-chi ignored safety measures stipulated in business regulations for such an event.
In the aftermath, the government adopted measures to deal with similar emergencies, such as easing National Health Insurance coverage requirements for burn victims. A new burn center was also opened in June 2016 to help the victims receive the ongoing treatment they needed.
While these advances are important, the question remains- what can be done to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again?
“We had never heard such an activity could be dangerous.”
The day after the explosion, the water park general manager told reporters, “Throwing coloured corn starch around… We had never heard such an activity could be dangerous.”
Under the right conditions, events involving coloured powder can be safe. One U.S.-based company called Color Vibe uses a custom powder made from cornstarch, baking soda, and food-grade colourants. According to the Color Vibe website, this product is manufactured using a ‘wet suspension’ process that results in an essentially non-flammable product.
In contrast, the powder used at the Colour Play Asia event was a combination of food colouring and cornstarch known to be unsafe when exposed to high temperatures. Although the event had been held in an open outdoor area where the powder could quickly dissipate, the staff shot it too close to the hot stage lights, causing it to ignite.
In addition to using powder tested for flammability, organizers of future events can maximize safety by:
- Refraining from the use of heat-producing lights,
- Prohibiting fireworks, pyrotechnics, and other potential ignition sources,
- Enforcing a strict no-smoking policy during the event, and
- Working with local authorities to take all necessary fire precautions.
Everyone who attended the Colour Play Asia party that night expected to go home with happy memories, not to suffer injury or death. Unless the hazards associated with combustible dust are more widely understood, it can -and likely will- happen again.
Resources
Taipei Times
The Indian Express
BBC Online
CNN
Yang, C.-C., & Shih, C.-L. (2016, September). A Coordinated Emergency Response: A Color Dust Explosion at a 2015 Concert in Taiwan. American Journal of Public Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4981786/ .
If you have an incident you would like to report anonymously, are looking for somewhere to share your safety communication or observation, or if you’d like to join and contribute to one of our Global Working Groups, visit www.dustsafetyshare.com.
