On the evening of August 22 (local time), a tragic fire occurred at a hotel in Bucheon, Kyunggi province, South Korea , killing 7 people and injuring 12 people. In it, the sad story of a victim's last call touched many people.
According to JooAng Ilbo newspaper, Kim (28 years old), a woman who died in the fire, called her father at 7:42 p.m., about three minutes after the fire broke out.
At 2:00 a.m. on August 23, in the funeral hall of the provincial hospital, Kim's father (56 years old) shed tears as he remembered the last phone call with his daughter.
Through his story, Ms. Kim called and said: "I'm in trouble. I couldn't get out because there was smoke all around."
She called back 5 minutes later and continued to tell her father: “I don't think I can last even 5 more minutes. Throw away all your things. You must live a very happy life."
Even more painful, the accident happened on Kim's father's birthday.
A fire broke out in a 9-story hotel in Jungdong, Wonmi-gu District, Bucheon City, causing a total of 19 casualties. All those who died were Korean citizens.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but firefighters estimate that the fire originated in room 810. Although the fire did not spread to the entire hotel, the inside of the building was quickly filled with black smoke and toxic gases, causing significant casualties.
The damage was great because the rooms at the hotel were built about 20 years ago and were not equipped with a fire sprinkler system. Although authorities have required sprinklers to be installed on every floor since 2017 when amending relevant laws, this hotel has not done so.
