Taiwan rescue helicopters plucked nine people to safety from a revolving restaurant on top of a blazing building today after fire and thick smoke killed three people in the 23-storey block.
Television footage showed police winching the nine one-by-one from the roof of the restaurant as flames and smoke poured from the upper floors of the building in Taichung City in central Taiwan.
The fire department received a call about the blaze in the city centre building at 4.18 p.m. (8.18 a.m. Irish time).
Other people in the building, which includes shops, restaurants and after-hour schools, were evacuated by foot after the fire broke out.
Three people were slightly hurt, suffering cuts and abrasions.
Officials believe the fire started in a restaurant on the 18th floor, where two of the dead were found, but the cause of the blaze was still unknown.
One of the dead was identified as a building security guard and another as a building management official. The third had not yet been identified.
