Firefighters fight a building fire in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, on October 14.
Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) -
At least 46 people were killed and dozens injured in a large fire at a building in southern Taiwan on Thursday, authorities said.
The fire started in the 13-story commercial and residential building at 2:54 am local time (2:54 pm ET) in the Yancheng district of Kaohsiung city, according to the official Taiwan Central News Agency (CNA).
Rescue operations are still underway, with more than 377 rescue workers deployed to the scene, a spokesman for the Kaohsiung City Fire Department told CNN.
At least 41 people were injured, he said.
Initially, authorities estimated the death toll at seven, but the city's fire chief, Lee Ching-hsiu, warned that more casualties were expected as some people could still be trapped in the residential part of the building, among the seventh and the eleventh floor.
The exterior walls of a residential building are charred from a fire on October 14 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
A total of 139 fire trucks and ambulances were deployed to the scene and extinguished the fire at 7:17 am (7:17 pm ET), the CNA said.
By noon, at least 62 people between the ages of 8 and 83 had been rescued.
More than 100 residents, many of them seniors with physical disabilities, live in the building, according to CNA.
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It is unclear what caused the fire, according to CNA.
Local police are reviewing surveillance footage and said they cannot rule out human factors, according to the report.
Taiwan