Two firefighters who were deployed to extinguish a fire at a frozen-storage warehouse in Wando County, South Jeolla Province, were isolated and died.
According to fire authorities on the 12th, a report came in at about 8:25 a.m. that a fire had broken out at a frozen-storage warehouse of a seafood processing company in Gunoe-myeon, Wando County, South Jeolla Province.
Fire authorities arrived on scene at 8:31 a.m., issued the first response stage at 9 a.m., and began extinguishing the blaze. However, during the interior entry, two firefighters went missing at about 9:02 a.m.
Fire authorities launched a search based on location data and recovered a person surnamed Park (44), a senior firefighter, at 10:02 a.m. and a person surnamed Noh (31), a firefighter, at 11:23 a.m., both deceased.
Authorities believe the accident was caused by a vapor explosion that occurred during the extinguishing process.
At a briefing that day, Lee Min-seok, head of the Wando Fire Station in South Jeolla Province, said, "During the second entry, vapor presumed to have stayed near the ceiling exploded," and noted, "When black smoke and flames shot up, the command team leader ordered an evacuation over the radio, but two of the seven did not make it out."
One company official also inhaled smoke from the fire and was taken to a hospital, but the person's life was not in danger.
Fire authorities deployed 115 personnel and 39 pieces of equipment and fully extinguished the fire at about 11:26 a.m.
The fire is said to have started while a factory official was using a torch to remove epoxy paint from the floor.
Police and fire authorities are investigating the exact cause of the fire and the circumstances of the accident.