Icheon Fire Fully Extinguished After 5 Hours... President Moon Orders "Best Rescue Efforts" (Update)

On the afternoon of the 29th, firefighters are conducting extinguishing operations at the site of a fire at a logistics warehouse construction site in Moga-myeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, where multiple casualties occurred. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The fire that broke out at a logistics warehouse construction site in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, around 1:32 PM on the 29th was fully extinguished at approximately 6:41 PM after more than five hours.

The fire department estimated that the fire started near the underground 2nd floor freight elevator installation site and spread throughout the entire building, which has two underground floors and four above-ground floors. A representative from the Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Headquarters stated regarding the fire's cause, "It is presumed that an unknown ignition occurred during urethane work and elevator installation near the underground 2nd floor freight elevator."

Regarding why the fire resulted in a large-scale human casualty, the official explained, "It appears that workers lost escape time due to explosive combustion and smoke generation immediately after ignition."

As of 7:20 PM that day, it was confirmed that 25 people had died and 7 were injured, including one critically injured person.

Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in instructed thorough efforts for rescue and accident management related to the fire incident. According to a written briefing by Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok, President Moon urged relevant ministries to "mobilize all available resources and do their utmost in rescue and management until the last person is rescued."

President Moon also instructed Minister of the Interior and Safety Jin Young to "explain the situation to the families of the deceased and injured as quickly as possible" and requested that "full support be provided to the victims in cooperation with the relevant local governments."

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