A fire broke out at an apartment building in Gunpo, just south of Seoul, on Tuesday morning, killing one and injuring a dozen residents, fire authorities said.

Three people were in the ninth-floor home of the 15-story building in Gunpo, 24 kilometers south of Seoul, when the blaze erupted at 7:15 a.m.

Of them, a bedridden man in his 50s died, and his wife, also in her 50s, was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation after complaining of difficulty breathing. The wife, along with their granddaughter, evacuated safely, but the man could not make it out as he had difficulty moving, officials said.

Twelve other residents, most of them in their 60s and older, suffered smoke inhalation and other minor injuries.

The son of the couple told Yonhap News Agency that his niece, who was visiting the place for the holidays, had told him of the fire sometime after he left for work at around 6:30 a.m.

“My father usually spent the days lying down due to his poor health and recently he had trouble walking,” he added.

T
he fire authorities deployed 47 fire trucks and 114 firefighting personnel and put out the fire about an hour later at 8:26 a.m.

The fire authorities had initially said two people were killed from the fire, but they were found to have mistaken a burnt object for a body.

Police suspect the fire was accidental, and no suspicions of arson were found based on accounts from witnesses and bereaved families, officials said.

Police and fire authorities plan to conduct a joint investigation during the day to determine the cause of the fire and review whether to request an autopsy on the body.

Source: Yonhap News Agency