Police and fire authorities said Sunday that an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire that claimed four lives and injured 47 people on Saturday at a shopping mall in Dongtan, on Seoul’s Southern outskirts.  

Police suspect a cutting machine used during the welding work may have caused the blaze. Oxygen-assisted cutting machines and gas cylinders collected from the site have been sent to the National Institute of Scientific Investigation for detailed analysis, the police said in a briefing Sunday. Results will be released in two weeks.
Police officers and fire authorities examine a fire site in Dongtan, Geonggi Province, on Saturday (Yonhap)Saturday’s fire started at a 264-square-meter indoor amusement park for kids inside Dongtan Metapolis in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Metapolis is a gigantic residential and commercial complex constructed in 2010 consisting of two 66-story buildings, one 60-story tower, another with 55 stories and a commercial four-story building. A total of 1,266 households live there. 

The kids’ facility, located on the third floor of the commercial building, was being renovated and was full of combustible material, fire authorities said.


By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)