Fifteen foreign laborers, five from Vietnam and 10 from Thailand, jammed a seafood restaurant in the middle of the night. The Vietnamese went to the place and coincidentally encountered the Thais, with both groups being there for birthday celebrations. After boozing and carousing, they chose to continue the celebrations at the attached KTV room, less than 16 square meters.

However, the two gangs started to fight reportedly due to language barriers in communication when playing cards. The Vietnamese initially left as they were outnumbered, but came back 30 minutes later and set fire to the eatery with gas tanks, triggering a gas explosion, an injured Thai laborer said to the police.

While the shabby iron house went up in flames quickly, the Taoyuan Fire Department dispatched 14 firefighting trucks immediately, extinguishing the blaze in 17 minutes.

Two males and one female workers were burned alive and died on the spot and seven wounded, including three severely, said the police. Although the Thai workers inside the building fled as soon as possible, some failed to escape because they were unfamiliar with the location, the police added.

The survivors, six female and one male, were sent to Chang-gung Memorial Hospital to receive treatment. One survivor was in critical condition with 70 percent of the body surface burnt.

The Taoyuan police, with the help of footage from a surveillance camera and the restaurant owner, who was acquainted with one of the suspects, nabbed three male Vietnamese arsonists while a female suspect was still on the run as of yesterday.

This is not the first time that foreign labors from different countries have had brawls in Taiwan. To address this problem, the Human and Labor Resources Department (HLRD) of Taoyuan County has required employers to separate their foreign workers by nationality.

However, it is hard to control their activities after work, said Ho Cai-chun, the chief of HLRD, adding that the authorities have asked police to step up patrols particularly at some recreational sites, such as food stalls and KTV.