Unsung heroes of Jecheon fire

By Jung Min-ho

Lee Yang-seob

Lee Ki-hyung

When flames were engulfing an eight-story building in Jecheon last week, Lee Yang-seob, 54, immediately called his son Ki-hyung.

The owner of Jecheon Cargo Sky, a construction machinery rental company, asked Ki-hyung to bring a ladder truck to the scene and together they rescued three men from the top floor.

“When I called my son for help, he said he had finished his work earlier than usual, which to me was like a message from God that we should rescue them,” the father told the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times.

“Black smoke blocked my view, so I had to rely on the people’s voices to locate them.”

People who were anxiously watching their rescue operation shouted with joy when the three escaped from the burning building.

The next day, Lee Yang-seob received a call from the wife of one of the three thanking him for the rescue.

The death toll from the fire, which eventually killed 29 people, could have been higher if Kim Jong-soo, a 64-year-old barber, had thought of himself first. After hearing about the incident, he helped people on the third floor escape through an emergency exit.

Kim, the last person to leave, was later hospitalized after inhaling toxic gases.

“It was possible only because we had a proper emergency exit,” he said.

Lee Sang-hwa, 71, and his grandson Jae-hyuk, 15, were exercising on the fourth floor when the fire started. The two ran down the stairs but on their way saw women standing helplessly on the second floor. They helped 15 women escape through a broken window.

In doing so, the grandfather inhaled too much toxic gas and Jae-hyuk broke his leg. They are being treated in hospital.