On Oxygen Therapy... 'Ramyeon Fire' Incheon Elementary School Brothers Still Unconscious

Both Brothers Under Intensive Care
Elder Brother Severely Burned... Receiving Oxygen Therapy After Sedative Administration

According to the Michuhol-gu Fire Station in Incheon, on the 14th, elementary school brothers caused a fire while cooking ramen in a villa in Michuhol-gu. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] It has been confirmed that elementary school brothers in Incheon who suffered severe injuries in a fire while trying to cook ramen to have a meal are receiving hospital treatment. They have been unconscious for five days and are dependent on oxygen respirators.

According to multiple media reports on the 18th, the brothers are currently being treated in the intensive care unit of a specialized burn hospital in Seoul. The older brother, A (10), inhaled a large amount of black smoke during the fire and is in a condition where spontaneous breathing is difficult, relying on an oxygen respirator. In particular, A’s burns are severe, and medical staff are administering sedatives as part of his treatment.

The younger brother, B (8), showed some improvement in breathing on the previous day (17th), and medical staff attempted to remove the oxygen respirator. However, after removal, he was unable to breathe on his own again, and as of the afternoon of the 18th, he remains in the intensive care unit receiving treatment alongside his older brother.

Earlier, at around 11:10 a.m. on the 14th, a fire broke out while the brothers were cooking ramen in their second-floor apartment of a four-story villa in Michuhol-gu, Incheon.

As a result of the fire, A suffered burns over 40% of his body, while B sustained milder first-degree burns but was in critical condition due to injuries to internal organs.

When the fire broke out, the brothers urgently called 119 and shouted, "Please save us." The fire department tracked the location via their mobile phones, confirmed the fire site, and dispatched units to extinguish the fire. The fire burned the entire 10-pyeong (33㎡) interior of the second-floor apartment and was extinguished at around 11:29 a.m. that day.

The brothers are children from a basic livelihood security recipient family and usually had their meals through school lunches. However, due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), schools switched to remote learning, making it impossible for them to eat school meals. As a result, they tried to prepare meals by cooking ramen themselves, which led to this accident.

The school was operating an emergency care classroom for children from families in need, but it was found that their mother, C, did not apply to use the care classroom.

The exterior wall of a villa in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, where a fire broke out while elementary school siblings were cooking ramen, was blackened on the morning of the 17th. / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, the Michuhol Police Station in Incheon announced on the 16th that they had forwarded C to the prosecution last month with a recommendation for indictment on charges of child neglect and abuse under the Child Welfare Act, suspecting that C neglected and abused the brothers A and B.

According to Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party and the Incheon city government, C has been continuously neglecting the brothers. From 2018 until May of this year, there were three reports from residents that C was neglecting and leaving the brothers unattended.

The Incheon Child Protection Agency conducted counseling with C regarding these issues and advised her to improve the physical environment of the home, such as cleaning, but the situation did not improve.

Eventually, on May 12, the agency requested a police investigation into C for neglect and child abuse and filed a petition for a child protection order with the Incheon Family Court.

However, the court dismissed the protection order petition on the 27th of last month. Instead, the court ruled that psychological counseling was preferable to separating the children from their mother and ordered counseling supervision.

Accordingly, C was to receive counseling from a specialized agency once a week for six months, and A and B were to receive counseling for 12 months. However, due to the resurgence of COVID-19 making face-to-face contact difficult, the counseling did not take place.