Foreign Worker Who Rescued Lives from Flames in Yangyang Receives 'LG Hero Award'

LG Welfare Foundation announced on the 22nd that it will award the 'LG Hero Award' to Ali (28, photo), a worker from Kazakhstan who risked his life by running into the flames to save lives at a fire in a one-room house in Gugyo-ri, Yangyang-eup, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province.

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] LG Welfare Foundation announced on the 22nd that it will award the ‘LG Hero Award’ to Ali (28), a worker from Kazakhstan who risked his life by running into the flames at a fire scene in a one-room house in Gugyo-ri, Yangyang-eup, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province.

Ali discovered a fire in the three-story one-room building where he lives around midnight on the 23rd of last month while on his way home and immediately ran up to the second floor where the fire broke out.

To alert people about the fire, Ali shouted in his broken Korean, “Fire! Fire!” and knocked several times on the door of the second floor where the fire was, but there was only signs of life with no particular response. Unable to wait for the firefighters to arrive, he tried to open the door with a key along with the building manager living on the first floor, but it did not open.

Thinking that he needed to save people quickly, he went outside the building, grabbed the gas pipe and TV cable installed on the outer wall, and climbed up to the second-floor window where fierce flames were rising. Without hesitation, he opened the window and entered the room, but it was difficult to find anyone inside the room already filled with smoke and flames.

Ali went back outside to ask for help from the arriving firefighters, during which he suffered second- to third-degree severe burns on his neck, back, and hands. Thanks to Ali’s quick response, about ten residents inside the building were able to evacuate safely, although one resident unfortunately passed away.

Meanwhile, it is known that Ali came to Korea on a tourist visa three years ago to support his parents, wife, and two children in Kazakhstan, and has been working as a daily laborer at construction sites beyond his authorized stay period.

An official from LG Welfare Foundation said, “Ali’s righteous act of prioritizing saving people over his own safety and the risk of his illegal stay being exposed prevented greater casualties,” explaining the purpose of awarding the Hero Award. Ali is the second foreign recipient following Nimal, a Sri Lankan national who received the ‘LG Hero Award’ in 2017.

The ‘LG Hero Award’ was established in 2015 reflecting the late Chairman Koo Bon-moo’s will that “a company should repay its social responsibility to heroes who sacrificed themselves for the nation and social justice.” After Chairman Koo Kwang-mo took office, the scope of recipients was expanded to include citizens who performed exemplary good deeds and volunteer work in society. Including Ali, a total of 121 people have received the award.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.