A helicopter drops water to put out a blaze at the Wooshin Golden Suites apartment block in Haeundae, Busan, Friday. The fire was extinguished two-and-a-half hours after it started. No casualties were reported but the authorities estimated the damage to the building to be substantial. / Korea Times photo by Lee Sang-deok |
By Bae Ji-sook
A fire engulfed a 38-story apartment building in the southeastern port city of Busan, Friday.
No casualties were reported as most residents were evacuated soon after the fire broke out. Firefighters rescued 31 residents, four of them were sent to a nearby hospital for examination.
The fire started around 11:34 a.m. in a garbage collection room on the fourth floor of the Wooshin Golden Suite near Haeundae Beach, an affluent area of the coastal city, but was brought under control after reaching the rooftop of the high-rise.
An apartment resident said, “Shortly after we smelled the smoke, flames and fumes came all the way up to our floor.”
A helicopter and dozens of fire trucks were mobilized to fight the blaze.
“It was fortunate that not many people were in the building at the time because it took place during daytime. There were several elderly people and infants, but we managed to quickly take them out of the building,” Kim Jong-kyu, head of the Haeundae Fire Station, was quoted as saying by KBS.
He added that the wind was strong, making it difficult for firefighters to access higher floors.
The blaze was finally extinguished after two and a half hours.
The building, built in 2006, is occupied by 202 households and several offices. The authorities expect about half of the accommodation units have been severely affected by the fire.
Meanwhile, the Busan city administration has come under attack for its lax measures in responding to the fire. Many residents complained that the fire report was not taken seriously enough and the evacuation of the building was undertaken too slowly.
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