By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

The Busan fire that killed 11 people, including seven Japanese tourists, in a Busan gun range Saturday appears to have been started with an explosion in the shooting booth area, investigators at Jungbu Police Station said Wednesday.

Police investigators speculate that the accumulation of residual gunpowder in the air led to the explosion.

"Repeated on-the-spot investigations found that the blaze was ignited by a strong explosion from the shooting booths area," Kim Young-sik, chief of the station, said in a press briefing Wednesday morning, contradicting previous speculation that the fire started on sofas in a rest area near the entrance to the range. "We are still looking for the exact cause of the explosion."

The police are checking their suspicions that the cause of the fire was residual gunpowder by conducting close analysis of CCTV footage to see if the traces of gunpowder were regularly and completely cleaned up. The managers of the shooting gallery said no explosive materials were kept on site.

The death toll from the fire has risen to 11 after a 67-year-old Korean female victim died while being treated for severe burns at Hana Hospital, authorities said.

The seven Japanese tourists who died in the fire will be transferred to Japan Thursday.

Meanwhile, authorities said that Yakuza gang members often frequent Busan to use shooting galleries to practice firing guns. "Some 60 members of the organized crime group entered Busan via Gimhae Airport in three separate groups in September 2008 and engaged in target practice at a local shooting range," a Busan police official said. "They entered the country to 'travel,' but mainly their purpose was to visit shooting galleries in the area."

The Yakuza is the largest organized crime group in Japan with more than 20,000 members. Japan has a strict ban against the holding and usage of guns.

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr