The small South Korean city of Jecheon was reeling yesterday, a day after a fire ripped through an eight-story building, killing at least 29 people, mostly women trapped in a sauna, on what should have been a day of celebration ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Organizers called off a leg of next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Games torch relay as South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived to comfort mourners.
Jecheon’s mayor told reporters the city was considering a mass funeral and planned to cover most of the costs.
All but one of the victims have been identified, including 20 women who were overcome by toxic fumes in a second-floor sauna, Jecheon Fire Department Chief Lee Sang-min said.
“Our crew on the scene said the lockers inside the facility were installed like a labyrinth and it’s a glass building with few windows, which apparently made way for the smoke from the first floor to quickly fill up the second floor,” Lee told reporters.
Investigators were still trying to find out the cause of the conflagration, but were focusing on a first-floor parking lot, he said.
“There were cars parked on the first floor, and as they were burning, a large amount of toxic gases were released,” Lee said.
Tragic stories began to emerge as victims were identified.
One man told Yonhap News Agency that he lost his mother, wife and daughter.
Another said that he received a telephone call from his trapped wife as she coughed in the gathering smoke, but was later unable to reach her again.
Heavy smoke charred the glass facade of the building as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze, climbing up and down a ladder in a desperate search for survivors.
“We thought that having a torch relay at a place where so many people died in a fire accident is just not right, and therefore canceled today’s event in Jecheon,” Pyeongchang Organizing Committee torch relay manager Ryu Ho-yon told reporters. “We are planning to adjust further schedules with those who want to continue the relay.”
Jecheon is southeast of the capital, Seoul, and is popular with visitors to its mountains and lakes.
The Games begin in February.
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