TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three people drowned and one is in a coma after performing a religious ritual to send away evil spirits on a beach near Taoyuan City on Saturday night (Aug. 13).
Taoyuan Fire Department Yong-an Branch chief Lin Chih-yang (林志洋) told media that sometime after 11 p.m., a group of people from a temple in Xinwu District, Taoyuan City gathered at a beach beside Yong-an Fishing Port to hold a ceremony to send away evil spirits, CNA reported.
As part of the ritual, people performing the ceremony waded into the water hand in hand, but as the water became deeper, some of them couldn’t touch the bottom.
According to the department, it received reports of water rescue operations at 11:37 p.m. on Saturday night. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found that four people needed help, including two who had been pulled out of the water.
One of the two, a 27-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳), suffered from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and later died in the hospital. The other, a 46-year-old man surnamed Chan (詹), was in stable condition when he was first pulled out of the water, but fell into a coma while he was being transported to the hospital, where he was admitted to an intensive care unit.
The two other men, a 30-year-old man surnamed Lu (呂) and a 15-year-old boy surnamed Chi (紀), were found at 1:33 a.m. and 4:18 a.m. on Sunday morning, respectively. Both had OHCA when found and died after having received emergency care in hospital, CNA quoted the department saying.
(Taoyuan Fire Department photo)
