Three children die in apartment blaze

Firemen and forensic investigators examine the apartment building where three children died in a fire on Sunday. / Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

Three children died and a young mother was injured in a fire at an apartment in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, police said Sunday.

According to Gwangju Provincial Police Office, the fire started at 2:28 a.m. in an apartment building in Gwangju.

The fire was extinguished in 25 minutes, but three children ― two boys aged 5 and 3, and a 15-month-old girl ― were found dead in a room.

Their mother, 22, was rescued from a balcony with two-degree burns on her legs and arms.

Police said the fire appeared to have started in the room where the three children had been asleep.

The mother had got drunk and shortly before the fire called her ex-husband, saying she wanted to kill herself, according to police.

They said the mother first claimed she had forgotten boiling water to cook ramen and fell asleep. She then claimed she could not remember whether she had put out her cigarette because she was drunk.

Police pointed out that despite the mother’s ramen claim, the stove was hardly burned, but the room where the three children died was destroyed.

The unemployed mother was divorced last month.

Police are investigating.