Police arrest mother over deaths of three children in fire
Forensic investigators enter the apartment building where three children died in a fire on Sunday. / Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Police have arrested a mother, 22, without warrant on Monday over a fire in which her three children died at an apartment in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province.
Two boys, aged 5 and 3, and a 15-month-old girl ― were found dead in a room on Sunday, and their mother was rescued from a balcony with two-degree burns on her legs and arms.
The mother first claimed she had forgotten boiling water to cook ramen, but when police pointed out that the stove was hardly damaged, she said she had put out her cigarette on a blanket.
Forensic investigators said the children died from smoke suffocation.
The police investigation is focused on whether the mother started the fire deliberately.
Police say that when the fire broke out, the mother escaped to the balcony alone without waking the three children. She also phoned her ex-husband instead of calling 119.
Police say no cigarette butt was found in the room where the children died, and that forensic investigation showed the fire did not start where the mother claimed.
Police will seek an arrest warrant.