[On-site] Coupang Logistics Center exposed... Isolation Firefighter Search Stopped

<Anchor>

Yesterday (17th) at dawn at the Coupang Logistics Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, the fire has not been completely extinguished even after a day has passed. A firefighter who entered the building earlier to put out the fire and could not get out is still not contacted. Connect with reporters who are on-site.

Reporter Hyung-rae Kim, now there is a black flame coming out behind reporter Kim, what is the situation there?

<Reporter>

24 hours after the fire broke out, the flames visible from the outside had subsided to some extent, but a smoky smoke was spewing out from all over the burned-out building to the extent that the skeleton was exposed.

Even here, about 300 meters away from the site, the smell of burning makes it difficult to breathe.

In particular, the inside of the building is still burning, and there is still a risk of the building collapsing due to the melting of the steel pillars, making it difficult for firefighters to enter.

The fire started on the second basement floor of the warehouse building at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, but during the firefighting process, the fire suddenly grew stronger and one firefighter could not get out.

As fears of the building collapse grew, the search operation was halted, and contact has been lost for 19 hours.

The fire department plans to decide when to deploy the search team while monitoring the situation at the scene as soon as the fire is extinguished.

<Anchor>

It's been almost a day since we started turning off the lights. But why is the fire still not well extinguished?

<Reporter>

The biggest reason was that, due to the nature of the warehouse, the building was filled with combustible boxes and plastics.

In particular, the fire department explained that the fire spread greatly as parcels piled up on the 3rd shelf on the second basement floor, where the fire started, poured into the place where the fire was.

Authorities also said earlier that there was a report that the sprinkler malfunctioned frequently in the building and delayed the operation, and said that they are checking whether the initial operation is in place.