South Korean fire kills 40
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - January 7, 2008 Kim Jung-geun, a local fire official, said all of the dead were
discovered in the basement of the burned out warehouse in Icheon,
about 50 miles south of Seoul.
He said the exact cause of the morning fire was not known, but
that workers were injecting urethane foam into basement walls when
the fire started. He said arson was not suspected.
Kim said explosions heard around the time of the fire were
caused by the blaze itself. He also said only one body had been
positively identified so far, because the corpses were so badly
burned.
Ha Jae-ho, a fire investigator, told YTN that firefighters and
rescue officials were searching the wreckage carefully because they
feared the building might collapse.
Cable news channel YTN showed black-clad firefighters battling
thick black, brown and white smoke, some of it spewing from
underground.
An official at Korea 2000, a logistics company that owns the
facility, said the building was under construction and was intended
for refrigeration purposes.
The official said workers were applying the final touches when
the fire broke out. The official requested anonymity, saying
company rules prohibit employees from speaking to the media.
Icheon, a crossroads for South Korea's largest highways, is home
to Hynix Semiconductor, the world's second-largest manufacture of
computer memory chips.
