A fire presumed to be an arson broke out today (9th) in a building with two basement levels and five floors above the Daegu District Court in Beomeo-dong, Daegu, killing 7 people and injuring 40 others.



Police said that they identified a suspect in their 50s by analyzing CCTV, but it is presumed that he died at the scene.



According to the police and fire departments, a fire broke out on the second floor of a five-story building with two basement floors near the Beomeo-dong courthouse in Suseong-gu, Daegu at around 10:55 am today.



At the time of the fire, a report was received at 119 that "black smoke was seen and an explosion sound was heard on the second floor of the building."



Seven unidentified people inside the building were killed in the fire.



Another 40 people were injured, including inhaling smoke.



It is known that smoke spread around and many people were evacuated from nearby buildings.



Five men and two women were killed, all of whom came from the second-floor office on fire.



All of them were transferred to Kyungpook National University Hospital and enshrined.



Daegu Suseong Fire Station Chief Park Seok-jin said in a briefing after completing the first human search, "All seven dead were found in Room 203, which was in the corner of the second floor."



"As we got to the scene and put out the fire, the burning quickly escalated," she said.



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When the fire broke out, about 60 fire engines and 160 firefighters were mobilized to put out the fire and rescue the residents.



Today, the fire was extinguished at 11:17 am, about 20 minutes later.



Fire officials are further checking to see if there are any more casualties.



Police saw the fire as an arson case and launched an investigation.



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The Daegu Police Agency said that they identified a suspect in their 50s by analyzing CCTV, but it is presumed that he died at the scene.



Police believe the suspect set the office on fire by unidentified means.



A police official said, "We are investigating the details of the fire after checking the scene where the arson suspect is carrying something on the CCTV today."



The Daegu Provincial Police Agency believes that the suspect, who is the counterpart of the lawsuit that was commissioned by the fire attorney's office, set the office on fire by an unidentified method.



The police will conduct on-the-spot forensics together with firefighters and others, while organizing an investigation team led by the head of the criminal division of the Daegu Police Agency to intensively investigate the circumstances of the incident.



The building on fire is located behind the courthouse and is home to a large number of lawyers' offices.



The basement has a boiler room and parking lot, and the ground floor has offices.



(Photo = provided by reader Shik-baek Choi, Yonhap News)