Police to Perform Autopsies on All 23 Fire Victims in Hwaseong

Concurrent Identification Verification Through DNA Analysis

The police have decided to conduct autopsies on all 23 victims who died in the fire at the Arisel battery factory in Jeongok, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do.

Citizens continue to visit the memorial incense altar for the victims of the Arisel battery factory fire set up at Hwaseong City Hall in Gyeonggi Province. [Yonhap News]

The Southern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency's Arisel Fire Accident Investigation Headquarters announced on the 26th, "An autopsy is scheduled for this morning on a body newly discovered at the scene just before the joint inspection yesterday morning to determine the exact cause of death." The body was identified as a missing 40-year-old Korean man, Mr. A, through fingerprint verification.

The fire department found Mr. A's body on the second floor of Building 3 of the Arisel factory, the fire site, at 11:34 a.m. on the 25th, the second day of internal search operations. Although the body was severely damaged, the fingerprints were relatively intact, allowing identification. With Mr. A, all bodies of the victims from this fire have now been recovered.

The police explained that autopsies are being conducted on all the deceased, including the previously recovered remains before Mr. A, to determine the exact cause of death. Additionally, DNA collection and comparison work for identification are being carried out simultaneously. This includes three people whose identities have already been confirmed, including Mr. A.

At around 10:30 a.m. on the 24th, a fire broke out at the Arisel factory in Jeongok-ri, Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong-si, resulting in 23 deaths and 8 injuries. So far, the identities of three of the total deceased have been confirmed.