By KUNA
Tokyo : South Korean police were investigating Tuesday the cause of a fire that killed 40 people and injured 10 others on Monday in a refrigerated warehouse southeast of Seoul with some of the victims yet to be identified, local media reported.
The deadly blaze in the city of Icheon ripped through the two-story warehouse where 57 workers were installing refrigeration systems and doing other work to prepare for the building’s opening this weekend, Yonhap News Agency said, citing police. Seven of the workers were rescued or able to escape, but the rest were trapped in the basement where they died or were injured from the fire or toxic gas inhalation. Many of the dead were underpaid daily wage earners, including 13 ethnic Koreans from China.
A joint team of police officers, investigators from the National Institute of Scientific Investigation and government officials from gas and electric agencies will inspect the warehouse to identify the cause of the fire, which started at around 10:45 a.m. (0145 GMT) Monday, the news agency said. Questions also remained about whether the warehouse, whose construction was nearly completed, was properly built and equipped with fire prevention facilities approved by the government. Most workers inside the warehouse were installing pipes and arranging electric facilities.
Burning toxic chemicals, coupled with fear of more explosions, made it difficult for firefighters to enter the building and extinguish the blaze. The operations were delayed as toxic fumes were coming out of the warehouse, and the temperature inside was too high to search for the missing.