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| Firefighters extinguish the remains of the fire at Daegu Seomun Market on Thursday morning. / Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Daegu's biggest traditional market, which caught fire early Wednesday morning, was still burning the next day after more than 31 hours.
The fire started in Seomun Market's zone four building, where inflammable materials like clothes, bedding units and curtains were sold in most of 839 stores inside.
Firefighters struggled to extinguish the fire because it was difficult to put it out completely amid such materials. They extinguished the major blaze about six hours after the fire began, but continued to douse areas that were still burning and smoking.
As of Thursday morning, a quarter of the building had collapsed and the city's emergency task force confirmed that 679 stores had been destroyed.
The city government has asked the central government to designate the destroyed site as a "special disaster area" and provide financial aid.
Daegu Jungbu Police Station is investigating the cause of the blaze by searching security camera video feeds around the building. On Thursday morning, they expanded the site search with the National Forensic Service, Korea Electrical Safety Corporation and the Korea Gas Safety Corporation.
The city's fire safety headquarters said it would take "another whole day" to completely extinguish the fire.
More than 800 people, nearly 100 fire engines and two helicopters had battled the huge blaze on Wednesday. Two firefighters were injured when they fell from the third floor.
The fire had started about 2 a.m. in the 15,300-square-meter building with a basement and four above-ground floors. The fire had spread from the first floor to the other floors. At 8:50 a.m., part of the building collapsed.
City mayor Kwon Young-jin visited the site on Wednesday.
A security officer on overnight duty said he "came out to get some fresh air" and saw flames and smoke coming from the first floor.
The concrete building was built in 1976 in the birthplace city of President Park Geun-hye, who is on the verge of being impeached after allegations that she allowed longtime friend Choi Soon-sil to meddle in state affairs.
The city's political significance aroused suspicion that the fire was started by a person with a grudge against the President.
Seomun Market covers 93,000 square meters and houses 4,622 stores in six buildings.
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