Taiwan’s leader pays respects to 46 dead in building inferno

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president has paid her respects at a morgue to the dozens of people killed in a deadly inferno that ripped through an aging tower block earlier in the week. Authorities say the fire in the southern city of Kaohsiung killed at least 46 people, after it broke out early Thursday morning. The flames engulfed the lower half of a 13-story building that housed many residents who were poor, elderly or disabled. President Tsai Ing-wen said she had come to the city of Kaohsiung “mainly to visit the wounded and offer my condolences to the family members” of the deceased. The Taiwanese leader visited hospitals where dozens of people who were injured in the fire were receiving medical treatment.