The first person to report the fire at Eunma Apartments in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, which left four casualties, has been identified as a teenage girl who died.
According to a transcript submitted by the National Fire Agency to Yang Bu-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 27th, the first caller, believed to be the deceased Ms. A, reported the fire while waiting by the window, unable to get out of the house. The call was received at about 6:18 a.m. on the 24th.
She said, "There's a fire now," and when asked for the address, said, "Daechi-dong, Eunma Apartments." When asked again for the exact building and unit number, she pleaded in fear, saying, "Which building is it, what do I do. What if I die. I can't breathe, what do I do."
According to Yang's office, after a neighbor reported the fire twice, a family member believed to be Ms. A's younger sibling called 119 again. The transcript records the urgent situation with lines such as, "What about my sister. My daughter is inside the house," and "Please come quickly."
Ms. A's mother, who witnessed the fire at the time, woke her second daughter, who was sleeping in a room near the front door, and sent her out of the house first. In the meantime, the older daughter, Ms. A, is said to have hidden on the master bedroom balcony to report the fire to 119.
According to the fire authorities, property damage from the fire is estimated at about 77 million won. The in-unit fire detector is presumed not to have operated. Eunma Apartments, completed in 1979, was built when sprinklers were not mandatory and therefore was not equipped with fire safety facilities.
Police and fire authorities completed an on-site inspection and sent some electrical appliances, including lighting, to the National Forensic Service.