"I turned off the alarm when there was a fire"...Bucheon Hotel fire is 'talent'

[Anchor]
A police investigation found that the casualties increased as an employee turned off the fire alarm during the fire at the Bucheon Hotel in Gyeonggi-do, which caused 19 casualties.

It has been confirmed that the hotel has managed the air conditioning wires of the rooms where the fire started, and left the usual hallway fire door open.

I'll connect with the reporter and find out. Reporter Jeong Hyeonwoo!

The results of the police investigation came out 40 days after the fire broke out, so please explain.

[Reporter]
Police today announced the results of the Bucheon Hotel fire investigation, which left seven people dead and 12 others injured.

At that time, the alarm went off when the fire broke out, but the hotel staff turned off the alarm for now without checking whether it was a fire.

It took 2 minutes and 24 seconds for the staff to witness the fire and turn the alarm back on.

Police explain that if the alarm had not been turned off, five dead people could have been evacuated at that time.

Let's listen to it.

[Kim Jong-min / Head of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency: The evacuation of guests has been delayed, resulting in greater casualties. Due to the lack of safety education, the act of arbitrarily blocking fire alarms led to a major disaster.]

Police say the fire started on the front of the air conditioner in the room.

Earlier, he explained that he continued to use old wires instead of changing all wires while replacing the air conditioner in the room.

He pointed out that the work was sloppily finished by winding insulating tape while connecting new wires to existing wires.

The door of the room where the fire started because there was no automatic closing device was open, and the hallway fire door was also fixed with a bundle of bottled water, so the fire and smoke spread greatly.

It was not easy to escape because the majority of the rooms were not equipped with stiffeners or had equipment problems.

Police have requested arrest warrants for four people, including hotel owners and operators, for safety management responsibility.

[Anchor]
Yes, two people died when the air mat flipped over at the time, so how did you judge the fire department's responsibility?

[Reporter]
Yes.

At the time of the fire, two male and female guests jumped to the air mat, but both died when the mat flipped over.

The police judged that it was difficult to hold the fire department accountable, saying that it was difficult for firefighters to enter and that they had no choice but to install an air mat as the only way out of the room without a simple softener.

However, he pointed out that there was no accurate instruction for installing the mat and that there was only one firefighter installed at the time.

We will notify related agencies of improvements in the operation of fire rescue equipment confirmed through the investigation.

I'm Jeong Hyeonwoo of YTN from the Ministry of Social Affairs.