At least four people died and 26 were injured on Thursday in an explosion at a Taiwanese shopping centre which is suspected to have been caused by a gas leak.
The blast occurred while construction work was underway on one floor of the building in the city of Taichung, about 160 kilometres south-west of the capital Taipei.
Officials said some of the victims of the explosion, which occurred in the food court of the Taichung Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store, were tourists from Macau.
Videos posted to social media showed debris and large panels spraying out from the building and littering the street below.
The food court on the 12th storey was closed at the time of the blast, which was 11am local time (3am GMT) on Thursday.
Videos showed the floor where the explosion took place had been mostly reduced to rubble with broken structures and twisted metal hanging from the ceiling and covering the floor while emergency workers used touches to move around, Reuters reported.
“The cause is subject to follow-up investigation and we call on the public to avoid going to the vicinity of the disaster site,” the National Fire Agency said.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi President Richard Wu said the company was "very shocked and very sad" about the incident.
"We will do our best to take all responsibilities for the parts we are responsible for," he said.
