Taiwan water park blast: More than 500 injured

More than 500 people were injured, almost 200 of them seriously, when a ball of fire ripped through a crowd at a water park outside Taiwan's capital Taipei, authorities said.

The number of those injured in the blast, which came as coloured powder being sprayed on the partygoers ignited late Saturday, more than doubled as authorities began to track down victims who had taken themselves to hospital or been ferried there by others.

Footage on the Apple Daily newspaper website showed crowds dancing as music played and clouds of powder being sprayed out which suddenly turned into an inferno that tore through the spectators.

Terrified partygoers were shown running for their lives, screaming, as they were overtaken by flames. Some were dressed only in swimwear and covered in the coloured powder. 

Ambulances had struggled to reach the scene, and the original figures had only counted those hospitalised by emergency services. 

Victims were carried away on rubber rings and inflatable dinghies as friends desperately tried to get them out.

Around 1,000 spectators had been at the Color Play Asia event at the Formosa Fun Coast water park, just outside the capital Taipei, according to officials.