A fire at National Taiwan University's Department of Chemical Engineering
earlier today has left 9 students injured.

The Taipei City Fire Department says it received reports of a blaze from a
lab at the Department around noon, and dispatched 19 firetrucks to the scene.

Firemen say they immediately evacuated the students and got the fire under
control within half an hour.

The injured students have all been sent to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The lab's professor Lan Chong-wen (藍崇文) says the students were carrying
out an "oil bath" experiment, a very common experiment using kerosene for
heating chemical reactions, when the explosion happened.

He's not clear what exactly went wrong, and will wait for further
investigations.

Meanwhile, NTU Environmental Safety Director Lin Jin-xuan says the fire
ignited after aluminium chloride in the lab came into contact with kerosene.

He says power supply to the Chemical Engineering Department buidling is now
cut as a precaution.

(NS)