12 sentenced for deadly 2014 gas blast in Taiwan

TAIPEI - A local court on Friday found 12 defendants guilty of negligent homicide in gas explosions that killed 32 people in 2014.

A series of explosions caused by a propane gas leak from underground pipelines took place July 31, 2014 along major streets in south Taiwan's Kaohsiung, leaving another 321 people injured.

The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced three municipal engineers at the city's sewage system office to four years and 10 months, and sentenced three technicians from a logistics company to four years and six months.

A former chairman and five other employees of LCY Chemical Corp, who were found responsible for the pipeline's maintenance, were sentenced to four years.