Subway fire in South Korea kills dozens

DRoseDARs · February 18, 2003, 06:41

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ea_subway_fire

100 Feared Dead in S. Korea Subway Arson
1 minute ago

By SOO-JEONG LEE, Associated Press Writer

DAEGU, South Korea - Fire raced through several subway cars packed with people Tuesday after a man lit a carton filled with flammable material that burst into flames, South Korean officials said. Police said at least 49 people died, but firefighters saw 100 bodies still in the wreckage.

Television footage of the scene in Daegu, South Korea (news - web sites)'s third-largest city, showed the charred frames of the subway cars, their seats burned away. The platform was strewn with discarded shoes and other belongings.

"We are receiving reports from firefighters at the scene that there are about 100 bodies inside the train cars," said Chung Myong-sook, an official with the fire department in Daegu.

A suspect was under interrogation, but police still did not know what motivated the attack. Rescue workers had given up the search for survivors by the afternoon.

Firefighters gave horrifying accounts of the scene underground: bodies of victims asphyxiated as they tried to escape up the stairs; on the platform were the ashen bones of those trapped in the flames.

The fire began when a man set alight a milk carton filled with an unidentified flammable liquid in a six-car train at a station. The fire spread to another train also stopped at the station, officials said.

Police were interrogating Kim Dae-han, 46, who witnesses said carried the carton into the subway car, according to Kim Byong-hak, a police lieutenant in Daegu. Police still did not know what precisely was in the carton.

"When the man tried to use a cigarette lighter to light the box, some passengers tied to stop him. Apparently a scuffle erupted and the box exploded into flames," the officer said.

Authorities said that the fire was put out by 1 p.m., about three hours after it started, but toxic gas in the tunnel delayed rescue efforts, the Yonhap news agency said. The acrid odor of burned plastic still wafted over the fire scene hours after the flames had been put out.

The television station YTN aired footage of the chaotic scene inside a nearby hospital reportedly showing the suspect being attended to by nurses. The man sat frowning on a bed wearing a hospital smock, his face and hands smudged from soot from the fire.

Yu Heung-soo, a police sergeant in Daegu, said Kim had been burned in both legs and the right wrist. But a doctor told YTN that the man's only injury was toxic gas inhalation.

YTN, without citing sources, also reported that the suspect worked as truck driver and had once threatened to burn down the hospital where he had received unsatisfactory treatment.

In the minutes after the fire began, thick black smoke billowed out of ventilator shafts of the subway. Downtown traffic came to a standstill as ambulances rushed to the scene. Orange suit-clad firefighters wearing oxygen tanks rushed into the subway.

Kim Bok-sun, 45, said her missing daughter, 21-year-old Kang Yeon-ju, was on the burning train and called in panic.

"She only said that there was a fire and the train door wasn't opening, so I told her to just break open a window and get out," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. Kim called her daughter back a few minutes later, "but she never answered the phone.

Rescuers brought victims, their faces and clothes black with soot, up to the street in stretchers and slid them into ambulances. One witness detailed the terrifying scene inside the subway as the fire ignited.

"The man kept flickering a lighter and an old man told him to stop. The man dropped the lighter and the train caught fire," an unidentified male survivor told YTN. "Several young men seized him, but the fire spread and black smoke rose. Then everyone rushed out."

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals, but details on their conditions were not known, said Kim, the police officer. YTN reported that some of the injured were in serious condition.

One man told YTN that his friend called on his cell phone and said he was trapped inside one of the cars. The unidentified man told YTN that he had called subway officials and they were unaware of the fire at the time.

Daegu, one of the 10 World Cup soccer venues last year, is the third largest city in South Korea with a population of 2.5 million.

Nubclear · February 18, 2003, 06:42

Urban Ranger · February 18, 2003, 06:43

That's worse than King's Cross

Dis · February 18, 2003, 07:01

I was just going to post this.

This shows how much worse fire is than chemical weapons. Look at the attack on Japanese subways. Not nearly as effective as this.

Sadly fire is the best terror weapon. This could give terrorists some ideas.

Main_Brain · February 18, 2003, 07:24

130 dead
160 wounded

Pekka · February 18, 2003, 07:27

I only wonder what kind of motivation this guy had..

Solly · February 18, 2003, 07:28

Terrorism?

Just shows we need to attack Iraq.

MRT144 · February 18, 2003, 07:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Boddington's
Terrorism?

Just shows we need to attack Iraq.

youre a funny one

Seeker · February 18, 2003, 07:41

umm, Korean news is saying 27 dead...

Solly · February 18, 2003, 07:43

A bit slow?

lightblue · February 18, 2003, 08:36

Why would Iraq attack SK, or am i just being dim again Bod? More likely to be someone with mental problems combined with poor escape procedures (fire in a subway is fairly nasty though, what with the fans to keep the air circulating feeding the flames and circulating the smoke).

Urban Ranger · February 18, 2003, 08:37

I'd rather believe Korean news.

DaShi · February 18, 2003, 10:48

I just believe what I want to anyway. La la la!

The Mad Monk · February 18, 2003, 13:12

I heard that the official count is in the twenties thus far, but they haven't actually gotten to the completely charred bodies yet.

Sandman · February 18, 2003, 16:13

If that container had been full of nerve gas or anthax, fewer people would have died.

Sorry to make a political point out of this, but the comparisons with the sarin attack on Tokyo are just too compelling.

Dis · February 18, 2003, 19:17

exactly what I was saying. I couldn't help but think about the attacks in the Japanese subways. The perfect setting for chemical weapons, yet it wasn't as effective as this fire. This tells you something.

Fire is the best terror weapon. This will give terrorists more ideas.

And yes with the ventilation shutting it off is the most effective thing. This is what we did with fires in engineering spaces that normally have ungodly amounts of air blowing through them to try to keep them from getting over 120 degrees. You have to shut the ventilation off ASAP. Then you have to evacuate from smoke filled areas obviously.

DinoDoc · February 18, 2003, 19:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Sandman
Sorry to make a political point out of this,

No, you aren't.

DanS · February 18, 2003, 19:37

A real WTC moment. People calling their family and friends on their cell phones in paniic. Very sad.

Dis · February 18, 2003, 20:38

It is an interesting aspect of the cell phone technology though. Not very many people get to talk to their loved ones when they die. I can't imagine what that is like.

Q Classic · February 19, 2003, 00:31

some 130 killed in daegu subway fire (from donga ilbo, english version)
200 dead, missing in Daegu arson
(from joongang ilbo, english version)
these two are probably the most informative.

subway arson kills at least 140 (from the korea herald, and english-language newspaper)
subway arson claims more than 100 (from chosun ilbo, english version)

images:

(modified from a metroplanet map)

(from bbc)

(from cnn)

(fron joongang ilbo)

it pretty much looks like someone really screwed up here. sprinkler systems weren't even in the subway station when this happened, and the cars seem to have been made of firewood. toxic fumes from the fire hindered rescue workers, and people called loved ones before they expired.

not pretty.

Seeker · February 19, 2003, 01:58

It's all over the news here at the Bulgogi house. Apparently the numbers were low because of the difficulty in identification.

I, or one of my co-workers, could have been on that subway.

aaglo · February 19, 2003, 02:14

Oh my... mental issues at their worst.

JCG · February 19, 2003, 02:32

Somebody will have to explain this kind of crap to the families, and I sure hope it's one of the people responsible.

:) Smiley · February 20, 2003, 01:23

Who's responsible? There are three levels of responsibility.

1. The nutcase himself.

2. The government that didn't lock up the nutcase.

3. The people who didn't pressure their government to lock up the nutcase. Don't they understand, nuts are just as dangerous, if not more so, than terrorists. Every year, more people are killed by mental insanity than terrorism. Why is there no widespread opposition to it?