Taiwanese officials have put the blame on a petrochemical firm over the powerful blasts that killed 28 people and injured 298 others on Thursday and put its roads ripped apart.

The government has started its investigation into what have caused the series of gas explosion in the country's second largest city, as residents' anger rose and accused officials of slow response during the disaster.

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But environmental officials said that based on initial records and data collected by investigators, Taiwanese petrochemical firm LCY Chemical Corp. had failed to notify authorities regarding its problems with a pipeline despite the known abnormalities in its delivery the same night the incident happened.

Chang Jui-hui, chief secretary of the Environmental Protection Bureau, said there were significant changes in pressure of LCY gas pipeline on Thursday yet the company continued with its operation.

China General Terminal & Distribution Corp., the LCY supplier, said it had initially shut off the pump containing propene or propylene after noticing irregularities just several hours before the explosion.

However, LCY Chemical asked the supplier to proceed with the operation, prompting the supplier to open the propene pipeline despite the irregularities, Agence France Press detailed.

According to officials, propene is a colorless, highly flammable gas mainly used for making the plastic polypropylene, the main ingredients for packaging, caps and films.

Local environmental officials said they even summoned representatives from some companies after the city's fire department received reports of a possible gas leak in the area. But all of the companies, including the LCY Chemical, said no irregularities were recorded in their operations.

"If we were informed earlier by LCY, we could have evacuated everyone," said Chen Chin-der, director of the Environmental Protection Bureau in Kaohsiung.

In a press conference on Saturday following the deadly blasts, Chen said authorities responding to the gas leak had a hard time finding the origin and nature of the gas as it rapidly spread across the community of 2.8 million residents.

Chen said nearly four tons of propene have leaked every hour from the pipeline before the pressure dropped at around 8:45 p.m. Thursday. The heavy presence of propene has caused the powerful explosion.

He said it was only at 11:55 p.m. when experts identified the identity of the gas leak, but too late to evacuate the residents as explosions started ripping the roads apart, overturning cars and severely damaging infrastructure in the area.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has also vowed for a full investigation into the cause of the incident, and said the official will review the network of pipelines in the densely populated city.

"Even though this incident happened in Kaohsiung, every Taiwanese person's heart is hurt... (I) hope heaven blesses Kaohsiung and blesses Taiwan," he said after visiting a Kaohsiung hospital on Saturday where residents injured in the blasts were recovering.

TagsTaiwan, Taiwan gas explosion, LCY Chemical Corp