400 fire victims still hospitalized

More than 400 people, many of them seriously burned, remained in hospitals after a fire spread into a crowd of spectators at a music party at a Taiwanese water park, authorities said.

The fire late Saturday was sparked by an acciden- tal explosion of a colored theatrical powder thrown from the stage in front of about 1,000 people, the local fire agency and media said.

The exact cause of the fire was still being investigated, but Taiwanese Premier Mao Chih- kuo banned public activities that use the colored powder.

The f ire injured 519 people, according to a statement from the city government. It said that 419 remained hospitalized.

Militar y News Agency TROOPS evacuate a victim of the f ire sparked by a blast from colored powder at a water park in Taiwan.