One Seriously Injured in Seoul Gwangjin-gu Studio Fire... Arson Suspect Urgently Arrested

In the early morning of the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, on the 12th, a fire broke out in a one-room apartment in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, causing a woman in her 20s to fall to the first floor and sustain a serious head injury. The police urgently arrested the one-room resident suspected of arson.

According to the police, at around 4:38 a.m. that day, a fire broke out in a third-floor unit of a six-story multi-family one-room apartment building in Junggok-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

The fire department deployed 27 vehicles and 112 personnel, and completely extinguished the fire at around 5:41 a.m., about an hour later. However, a woman in her 20s living on the fourth floor fell to the first floor while trying to evacuate and was transported to the hospital with a serious head injury.

On the 22nd, medical staff are talking with ambulance personnel at the COVID-19 screening clinic set up at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. COVID-19 vaccinations are scheduled to begin on the 26th. Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s living in another unit on the same floor inhaled smoke and sustained minor injuries. Eight other residents evacuated on their own.

Part of the third-floor unit where the fire started was destroyed, and part of the fourth-floor unit suffered smoke damage. The fire department estimates the property damage at 60 million won.

A resident named A, who lived in the third-floor room where the fire started, evacuated outside and then requested a nearby convenience store to call 119, reporting that "a blanket caught fire."

The police investigated the building residents and related persons and then urgently arrested A on suspicion of arson. During the police investigation, A initially claimed that the fire started accidentally but later changed the statement to admit setting the fire.

It was confirmed that the one-room unit where the fire broke out did not have a standalone smoke detector installed. The police are investigating the detailed circumstances of the incident with A.

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