Fire at Changwon Apartment Commercial Area... 47 Evacuated and Rescued

A store inside an apartment shopping complex in Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam was completely burned down due to a fire.
[Photo by Changwon Fire Headquarters]

A fire broke out at an apartment shopping complex in Yongwon-dong, Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam Province, at around 11:05 a.m. on the 4th.

According to the Changwon Fire Headquarters, the fire burned the entire first-floor laundromat, where it started, and part of a nearby beauty salon before firefighters who arrived at the scene extinguished it at around 11:31 a.m.

The first reporter was a resident of the apartment who reported hearing an explosion and seeing smoke in the shopping complex hallway.

At the scene, 18 pieces of equipment including five pump trucks, five ambulances, and four water tanks, along with 50 personnel, were deployed.

Firefighters rescued 22 people, including 21 children and one instructor who were in a Taekwondo gym on the third floor, using ladders as smoke filled the hallway, preventing them from escaping on their own.

Ten people on the first floor and 15 on the second floor, totaling 25 people, evacuated by themselves.

The fire caused property damage estimated by the fire station at about 80 million won, and four children who inhaled smoke were taken to the hospital; however, no casualties or injuries were reported.

The police and fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire.