Family of 4 trapped in Taipei Dome stairwell for 20 minutes

一家四口被困在台北大巨蛋樓梯間20分鐘

Family found themselves inside a smoke-filled secret room


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A family of four became trapped for 20 minutes inside a basement stairwell of the Taipei Dome after watching a baseball game on Wednesday (Dec. 6).

On Thursday morning (Dec. 7), a sports fan posted an account on PTT of the previous night's incident, per Liberty Times. After watching a baseball game in the Taipei Dome on Wednesday, the man in a family of four said that a staff member had given directions on how to get to the B3 parking lot.

The employee said there was an elevator to the left of a door. However, the sports fan was unable to find an elevator and every stairwell door was locked.

The only door that he could open was an emergency exit door. Once he stepped through the door, he said they could smell the strong odor of smoke.

As they walked down the stairs, the smell of smoke became progressively stronger, and an increasing number of cigarette butts came into view on the stairs. When they reached B3 they found the door to the parking lot was locked.

They then walked back up the stairs to B1 and after going through one door, the four of them found themselves "trapped inside a smoke-filled secret room." He said that his cell phone was nearly out of battery and the signal inside the Taipei Dome was weak.

He then had the idea of using the phone’s emergency mode to dial 112 for emergency services. Soon after, officers from the local police station called to confirm the location.

The author of the post estimated that his family had been trapped inside the room for about 20 minutes before they were rescued. He prefaced the post by conceding the ordeal was "mostly because of my foolishness" and he had uploaded his harrowing account to warn other visitors to the Taipei Dome.

Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) expressed concern about the incident during a council meeting on Thursday. Chung questioned whether misinformation from staff led to the man being trapped and urged the city government to investigate the situation.

She said smoking should be prohibited at Taipei Dome. She also called on the city government to conduct a comprehensive inspection.

In response, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that improvements have been requested from Farglory Group on unclear signage, and smoking is not allowed in the non-smoking areas.

Farglory said that after learning the news, it dispatched personnel to carry out an inspection. It is taking measures such as clearly marking and barricading areas that are not open to the public and fire escape stairs to prevent people from entering mistakenly.