Taipei: The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck Taiwan on February 6 has increased to 108 with some nine people still reported missing, the authorities announced on Saturday.
The 16-storey Wei Guan building, the most seriously damaged in the 6.7-magnitude quake, in Tainan city collapsed towards a road on its east side seconds after the earthquake, accounting for 106 of the casualties, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, 281 people were rescued out of the building.
During the time of the quake, the building was crammed with about 380 people.
Rescuers started searching efforts soon after the quake and are still search for the missing, but no survivor has been discovered since late Monday.
At present, all the nine missing resided in Unit A and Unit G.
Taiwan will observe a national day of mourning on Monday with the national flag flying at half mast.
–IANS