Taiwan earthquake: Badminton players flee for their lives as sports centre ceiling collapses

earthquake in Taiwan
Taiwan earthquake: Badminton players flee as sports centre ceiling collapses

Terrifying moment badminton players flee for their lives as sports centre ceiling collapses during an earthquake in Taiwan.

Dozens of people were playing on the fifth floor of a sports centre near the capital Taipei shortly before 3pm on Sunday when the massive earthquake hit.

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earthquake in Taiwan
Taiwan earthquake: Badminton players flee as sports centre ceiling collapses

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.

Sunday’s earthquake was the largest among dozens that have rattled Taiwan’s southeastern coast since Saturday evening, when a 6.4 quake struck the same area.

Most of the damage appeared to be north of the epicentre, which was in the town of Chishang at a relatively shallow depth of four miles.

In nearby Yuli town, a cement factory worker was killed and a three-story building, which had a convenience store on the ground floor and flats above it, collapsed.

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The 70-year-old owner of the building and his wife were quickly rescued – but it took longer to get to a 39-year-old woman and her 5-year-old daughter.

A photo 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.

More than 7,000 households were without power in Yuli, and water pipes were also damaged.

Shelves and musical instruments toppled over at the Mount Carmel Presbyterian Church and a long crack ran down its floor.

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Outside on the street, the pavement was broken up into slabs of concrete from the force of the quake.

Cops and firefighters also rushed to a damaged bridge in a rural part of the same town.

Taiwan, which sits in an area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is frequently hit by earthquakes.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, while a 7.3 magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

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