At least 29 die in fire at S Korea gym
Toxic smoke prevented escape for many
AT least 29 people were killed and 26 injured yesterday in a major blaze at a fitness centre building in the city of Jecheon, in one of South Korea’s deadliest fire disasters.
The fire broke out at about 4pm and quickly engulfed the entire eight-storey building, trapping many inside.
Twenty victims were found at a public sauna and others elsewhere in the building that houses a fitness centre, public bath and restaurants, the National Fire Agency said.
“The fire produced so much toxic smoke so quickly, leaving many people unable to evacuate,” an agency spokesman said.
Many victims appeared to have been unaware of the fire raging outside the bathhouse until it became impossible to flee, he said.
The death toll might rise further as firefighters continued to search the building, the spokesman said.
Television footage showed the building consumed by orange flames and issuing dark plumes of smoke, as several people stood waiting to be rescued from an outdoor terrace.
Some were seen jumping from the building onto air mattresses laid out on the ground as dozens of fire trucks and more than 100 firefighters rushed to the scene.
The blaze – believed to have started in a parking lot on the first floor – had been mostly put out, the fire agency said.
Jecheon is in central South Korea, about 120km southeast of the capital Seoul.
The disaster forced organisers of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to cancel a planned torch relay event at the city today, Yonhap news agency said, quoting the organisers.
“We decided to cancel the event [and instead] to mourn the victims,” an unnamed official at the organising committee was quoted as saying.
The fire is South Korea’s worst since 2008 when a blaze at a warehouse in the city of Icheon killed 40 workers.
President Moon Jae-in expressed regret over the accident and urged officials to make their utmost efforts in search-and-rescue operations, his office said.
The worst fire ever to hit modern South Korea was an arson attack on a subway station in the southeastern city of Daegu that left 192 people dead and nearly 150 injured in 2003.