Property damage from the "capsule hotel" fire in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, was tallied at more than 1 billion won. A Japanese woman in her 50s who was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest has reportedly not regained consciousness for four days.
According to the Jungbu Fire Station on the 17th, losses from the fire are estimated at a total of 1.13685 billion won, including 1.00503 billion won in real estate and 131.82 million won in movables.
Of the 587.3㎡ floor area on the 3rd and 4th floors of the building where the capsule hotel was located, 130㎡ was destroyed, and 20 capsule cubes and two air conditioners were burned.
The nationalities and age groups of 10 foreign nationals injured in the fire were also released. Those seriously injured are a Japanese woman in her 20s, a Japanese woman in her 50s, and a Chinese man in his 30s. The two Japanese patients with serious injuries are family members.
The seven people with minor injuries were from a variety of countries, including the United States, China, Germany, France, Poland and Norway. By age group, there were three teenagers, three people in their 20s and one in their 30s.
On the 14th at about 6:10 p.m., a fire broke out at a capsule hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. The flames were extinguished in about 3 minutes 25 seconds.
Police and fire authorities conducted two joint forensic inspections. They confirmed that a specific point within the dense cluster of capsules (guest rooms) on the building's 3rd floor was intensely burned and are viewing the nearby area as the ignition point. However, they have not yet determined the precise cause of the fire.
A capsule hotel is a lodging facility where single-person beds are stacked like a honeycomb. While low prices are a strength, the narrow corridors make evacuation difficult in a fire.
With a concert by BTS approaching, fire authorities expect many foreign tourists to seek capsule-style accommodations and other such facilities, and decided to conduct emergency safety inspections of 5,481 locations across Seoul through the 19th.