Death Toll at Donghae Pension Rises to 6... All Four Sisters in Family Gathering Found Dead

The site of the Toba Pension in Donghae City, Gangwon Province, where a tragedy occurred resulting in the deaths of five family members due to a suspected gas explosion during the Lunar New Year, was densely cordoned off with police lines on the morning of the 27th.

The death toll from the gas explosion accident at Toba Pension in Donghae, Gangwon, which resulted in 9 casualties, has risen to 6.

In a tragic accident during a rare family gathering to console the third sister (58, female) who lost her son, all four sisters passed away, deepening the sorrow.

According to Donghae City and the police, the second sister (66), who had suffered full-body burns in the gas explosion on Lunar New Year's Day, January 25, and was transferred to a hospital in Cheongju, Chungbuk for treatment, died at 4:26 p.m. on the 27th.

As a result of this accident, six people died: the eldest sister (70, female) and her husband (76), the fourth sister (55, female) and her husband (55), and the third sister. A cousin (66, female) who suffered full-body burns is currently receiving treatment at Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital.

The family, consisting of one son and five daughters, six siblings in total, had recently gathered to console the third sister, who was plunged into despair after losing her son, when the tragedy occurred.

The third sister was reported to have suffered from bipolar disorder and other conditions after being unable to recover from the shock of her son's death due to an illness in Southeast Asia.

The sisters, who were usually very close, arranged this gathering for the third sister.

The six siblings, most of whom live in the metropolitan area, were known to have a particularly close relationship and frequently interacted.

As a result of this accident, only the eldest brother, who stayed in the metropolitan area for ancestral rites, and the youngest sibling, who was to join the gathering a little late, remain.

Kim (53), the husband of the youngest sibling, said, "We were supposed to join about an hour later with my wife," and added, "I don't know what would have happened if I had arrived just an hour earlier..." but was unable to continue.

Those who visited Donghae, where one of the sisters lives, for the Lunar New Year holiday had planned to eat seafood such as snow crab and sashimi at a sashimi restaurant that evening.

The Toba Pension gas explosion accident, which caused 9 casualties, occurred at 7:46 p.m. on January 25, Lunar New Year's Day.

Besides this family, two men in their 30s to 40s who were using the sashimi restaurant on the first floor at the time of the accident were treated and then sent home.