Five people, including three children, died and two others were injured in a tent fire at a camping site in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, early Sunday, police and fire officials said.
The fire broke out around 1:20 a.m. inside a 16 square-meter tent set up at a camping ground close to a beach on Ganghwa Island of Incheon, according to the officials. Those killed included a 37-year-old father, identified only by his last name Lee, and two of his sons, aged 11 and six, they said. Another man and a girl were also killed inside the same tent, but they have yet to be identified.
Lee's second son, aged eight, and a 43-year-old man in a nearby tent, identified by his last name Park, were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment after suffering second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, officials said.
Park told the police he had rushed to the adjacent tent when it caught fire and rescued the eight-year-old boy who was the only one standing. The others were collapsed on the ground, officials quoted him as saying.
Officials said Lee and the other man in the tent were friends and had taken their families camping from Seoul on Saturday.
"It only took about a minute for the tent to rapidly burn down," Ryu Hwan-hyeong, head of the Incheon Ganghwa Fire Station, said. "The tent was made from combustible material so it was vulnerable to fire."
Police officials said they suspect an electric panel used for heating was the source of the fire. They have asked the state forensic service to determine the exact cause. (Yonhap)
