90 Residents Evacuate and 50 Suffer from Smoke Inhalation In Seoul’s Yangcheon District, a person associated with an apartment complex was urgently arrested by the police on suspicion of starting a fire in the apartment. The police have requested an arrest warrant for this individual. On the evening of the 21st, the Yangcheon Police Station announced that a person, referred to as Jeong (76), was urgently arrested and had an arrest warrant requested for causing a fire in an apartment parking lot in Sinwol-dong.
Jeong is accused of starting the fire at a paper collection site located in the piloti parking lot on the first floor of the nine-story apartment building in Sinwol-dong at around 5:33 a.m. on the same day. In response to the fire, the fire department issued a Level 1 alert and deployed 313 personnel and 90 pieces of equipment to extinguish the blaze. Ninety residents evacuated to the rooftop or were rescued by response personnel, and 50 people were transported to a hospital due to smoke inhalation. The fire was completely extinguished by approximately 8 a.m., after burning for about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
The Seoul Southern District Court is set to conduct a pre-arrest detention hearing for Jeong, led by Judge Park Chan-seok, starting at 10:30 a.m. on the 24th. A decision regarding Jeong’s arrest is anticipated by the evening of the same day.