Busan Fire — Disaster Waiting to Happen

11-16-2009 17:51

By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

A total of seven Japanese tourists, rather than the eight initially believed to have died, were killed in a fire Saturday at a Busan shooting range, according to an ongoing investigation.

Initially, the police announced that eight Japanese and two Koreans were killed. Six additional victims are being treated at a nearby hospital.

As on-site investigations progressed, police found more pieces of evidence that showed the blaze was a disaster waiting to happen, with the tourist spot lacking basic safety measures.

Police are suspecting that the blaze that claimed nine lives overall was caused by a cigarette. "Given that the gun range allowed smoking, we are looking into the possibility of this activities role in the accident," Kim Jung-hwak, chief of the Busan Jungbu Police Station said during a press conference Monday. Police have been conducting an investigation at the shooting range since the weekend and are yet determine the exact cause.

Citing Japanese tourists that had used the shooting range, a Japanese newspaper observed that its sound-proofing structure had made it difficult for smoke to escape in case of a fire. Tourists also said that the building was old, had low ceilings and poor ventilation, making it susceptible to fire.

Authorities played down the possibility of a gas explosion although some witnesses said they had heard a loud bang.

Eleven Japanese visitors were at the shooting gallery range when the fire broke out including nine farmers and office workers from Nagasaki Prefecture, visiting Busan as part of a junior high school reunion. They had been on group tours for three years, and the Busan trip was the group's first overseas experience. They had arrived there Busan on a high-speed ferry from Fukuoka, 208 kilometers from Busan, and were planning to return to Japan after a one night stay.

The other two men from Fukuoka and Miyazaki prefectures were from a different tour group.

Individual identification of the bodies is expected to take some time as all were severely burned and will likely require DNA analysis, according to the Busan Fire Department.

Family members of the victims arrived in Busan Sunday afternoon to visit memorial altars set up at Busan National University Yansang Hospital. "My father was always kind and generous. I wish the accident had not happened," Atsunobu Inada, 37, the son of one of the dead victims was quoted as saying.

The Korean government issued an apology for the incident and is expected to take due compensatory measures. "We will take proper measures to deal with the aftermath of this incident and come up with policies to prevent future occurrences," Yoo In-chon, minister of culture, tourism and sports, said.

Noting that the fire could have been avoided with stricter adherence to safety measures, President Lee Myung-bak urged a review of standards nationwide. "We must take this incident as an opportunity to raise our consciousness about safety throughout our society. Such efforts should not be limited to the tourism industry," the President said during a weekly meeting with his top aides.

The Japanese Consulate General in Busan is operating a task force to deal with the accident.

The blaze started at around 2:25 p.m. Saturday at the shooting gallery, situated on the second floor of a five-story building. It was extinguished about 40 minutes later.

The Busan fire is the latest in a series of major fatal fires since 2000.

In 2008, 47 people were killed after fires burned two cold-storage facilities in Gyeonggi Province. In the previous year, nine foreigners who had entered Korea illegally were killed while being detained when a fire broke out at an immigration office in South Jeolla Province. In 2003, more than 190 people were victims of arson on board a subway train in Daegu.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr