Prosecutors detain suspect in Taiwan hospital fire

 TAIPEI, Oct 24 (Xinhua) -- Prosecutors¹ have detained a 69-year-old male patient suspected of starting a fire in a hospital in south Taiwan, which killed 12 people and injured dozens of others.

A fire broke out at an independently operated medical care facility of the Bei-Men branch of the Sinying Hospital in Tainan City in the early hours of Tuesday. Most of the victims were patients being treated for serious or mental illnesses.

Local media reported on Wednesday that police identified a male patient, surnamed Lin, as the prime suspect.

Lin, one of 69 patients being treated at the facility, could not be found after the fire. Police finally found him in the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

He confessed to police that he was upset at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday and set fire to tissues, his clothes and bed sheets. He later threw these on other clothes, starting the fire.

Police said Lin was not mentally ill and his confessions² were largely in line with what they found by sifting³ through images captured on the closed-circuit cameras.

Prosecutors in Tainan City decided⁴ to seek the permission of a local court to detain Lin, a request that was later approved.

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 confessions   

n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔

参考例句：

• It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。