<Anchor>

Welding was not the only problem. It turned out that the safety rules were not properly followed while putting in more people to work dangerously together to shorten the construction period. The police have filed a warrant for arrest for nine construction officials, including Hanik Express, the owner of the order.

This is reporter Kim Sang-min.

<Reporter> The

welding operation was accompanied by a fire hazard, but there were no safety measures.

There was no fire cloth to prevent the fire from splashing or flying, and the provision of working in groups of two for fire was not followed.

No fire watchers were on the scene.

With no emergency alarm system, workers on the other floors except the 2nd basement level, where the fire started, could not even know the time of the fire.

[Park Si-young/The Victims of the Tragedy: You probably didn't even know it was on fire at first. If there was an audible alarm, I wouldn't have thought of this as a joke.]

Unlike the original design that the outdoor emergency staircase leading to the roof would be made of iron, it was finished with a panel, so instead of acting as an emergency evacuation, it became a fire-starter.

In the space where the basement 2nd floor fire doors were to be made, bricks were piled up to prevent dew condensation. Eventually, 4 workers died trying to evacuate through the closed space.


In order to shorten the construction period, 67 workers, who were usually twice the size of the day of the accident, also caused massive casualties.

Several fires and explosions were carried out simultaneously, but no one was arrested.

The police have filed a warrant for arrest for nine officials from construction contractors and supervisors, including the head of the Hanik Express site.

(Video coverage: Gongjin-gu, video editing: Lee So-young) 

▶'Icheon tragedy' was another talent… "Welding burnt on urethane foam"