BUSAN — Two people died in a series of fires across Busan on the night of the 14th, the city's fire and disaster headquarters said.
A fire broke out at about 10:45 p.m. on the second floor of a two-story detached house in Toseong-dong, Seo-gu, according to the Busan Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters on the 15th. Flames had already spread throughout the interior by the time firefighters arrived, responding to a call from a resident who saw smoke and flames rising from the second floor.
Firefighters put out the blaze at about 11:47 p.m., roughly an hour later, but a man in his 40s was found dead near a bed in the main bedroom. A resident of the first floor escaped without assistance, and no other casualties were reported. "It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of the fire," the fire authorities said, adding that a joint forensic examination is planned to determine the exact cause.
Earlier, at about 9:35 p.m., a fire started in a fourth-floor room at a motel in Gyebeop-dong, Sasang-gu. A nearby resident on the way to a night shift saw flames through a window, tried to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher and then called the emergency line. Firefighters brought the blaze under control at about 10:26 p.m.
A man in his 60s was rescued from the room's bathroom in cardiac arrest and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died. Police and fire officials believe the fire began in the space beneath an air conditioner and plan to conduct a joint forensic examination with related agencies to determine the exact cause.
At about 8:54 p.m. the same day, a fire also broke out in the engine compartment of a car parked in an outdoor parking lot at an apartment complex in Jangnim-dong, Saha-gu. Firefighters dispatched to the scene fully extinguished the fire at about 9:18 p.m., 24 minutes later. The vehicle was destroyed, causing property damage estimated by the fire station at 7.7 million won, but no one was injured.
Fire officials and police are investigating whether a leak of flammable fluid or an electrical fault caused the blaze, based on the driver's statement that an engine warning light had come on while driving and on burn patterns centered on the engine compartment.