Police yet to find Busan fire cause

The police yesterday continued their investigation into the indoor shooting range fire which broke out Saturday killing 10 people and injuring six. Thus far, however, the cause of the fire remains unidentified.

Once the police closed the initial investigation, the victims` family members were taken to look at the scene of the fire, said officials.

The police kept the area closed to the public during the investigation, citing its political sensitivity due to the fact that some of the victims were Japanese and the need to dig into the cause of the fire.

Despite President Lee Myung-bak`s order to clarify the reason of the accident, little is left on the scene to trace back to the cause, stated police.

"One of the possibilities is that an explosion may have been caused by leftover gunpowder and cigarette butts," said a police official.



One of the injured Japanese visitors said during the police investigation that he had heard the sound of an explosion just before the fire broke out.

The police thus delivered to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation the gunpowder samples to verify the explosion theory.

They also banned the range owner and manager from leaving the country until they are cleared from security responsibilities, said officials.

Meanwhile, the NISI performed an autopsy on the deceased victims, including the seven Japanese, with their families` consent. All turned out to have died from suffocation caused by smoke inhalation, according to officials.

Shim Gil-seong, a Korean employee at the shooting range, was cremated yesterday and the two other Korean victims will follow suit today.

The bodies of the Japanese tourists will be taken home by their family members, said officials.

The official list of the deceased victims will be announced as soon as the NISI completes the odontological identification, said officials.

A five-story building in a Busan marketplace was engulfed in a sudden blaze following a loud blast at around 1:26 p.m. on Saturday, according to witnesses. On the second floor was an indoor shooting range, a tourist spot which had recently become very popular among Japanese visitors.

The 10 victims died on the scene from smoke inhalation and burns while six more, three of them Japanese, were injured and taken to nearby hospitals.

The tourists had come from the Japanese town of Nagasaki to the port city earlier that day for a two-day school reunion trip.

A mourning altar was set up on Monday near the scene of the fire by local merchants where local residents, passengers, and the victims` families paid their respects.

(tellm@heraldm.com)



By Bae Hyun-jung