HONG KONG — Hundreds of people were being treated at hospitals in Taiwan on Sunday after a night of wild revelry at a water park near the capital turned into a hellish nightmare when airborne, colored powder being sprayed onto partygoers ignited.
No deaths were reported, but as of Sunday evening, 498 people had been sent to 43 hospitals, with 202 sustaining serious injuries, according to the website of the Public Health Department of New Taipei City, where the incident took place, outside of Taipei.
The injured, many suffering from serious burns and smoke inhalation, were overwhelmingly young, in their 20s or younger, with one 18-year-old woman receiving burns on 90 percent of her body, according to the official Central News Agency.
Video taken at the scene showed the flames erupting within the crowd at the event — called Color Play Asia and organized by a group using the same name — about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, after nightfall.
Some were shown carrying the injured from the scene in inflatable rafts, and others were shown running away, silhouetted by flames. The fire was quickly controlled, but not before hundreds were hurt.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said on its website that Taipei-area hospitals had victims requiring skin grafts. The ministry said hospitals were also urgently requesting other medical supplies needed to treat burns.
The victims were mostly from Taiwan, but among the injured were four people from Hong Kong, one person from the United States, one from Singapore, one from Japan, one from Macau, and one from Malaysia, according to the local public health department.
The public’s focus immediately turned to the colored powder — what the organizer claimed on its Facebook page to be cornstarch mixed with food coloring — sprayed at high velocity on revelers from a stage. Many asked how, if it was flammable, the mixture was allowed to be used at such events, several of which have taken place in Taiwan in recent years.
Taiwan’s prime minister, Mao Chi-kuo, said Sunday that events using airborne, colored powder would be banned and the government would set up a group to deal with the treatment and rehabilitation of those injured.
President Ma Ying-jeou visited some of the hospitalized victims, saying that the government would spare no effort to assist families and hold those responsible accountable, CNA reported.
The one-day event, with a capacity of 4,000 people, was billed as the biggest “color party” in Asia and was meant to run from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters, Chen Huiying — the general manager of the park, Formosa Fun Coast — expressed sorrow for the injuries. But she added that the event, while it took place on her company’s site northwest of Taipei, was organized by another company.
Color Play Asia said on its Facebook page that its products were in line with standards set by SGS, which is a Geneva-based testing, inspection, and verification company. No one from SGS was immediately available to comment on whether Color Play Asia’s products had received certification and whether that process also included tests for flammability.