Jecheon Fire Families

[Anchor Lead]

The bereaved families of those who died in the Jecheon fire visited the site of the tragedy on Wednesday. They made their on-site visit in order to look into the problems cited as the causes of the blaze directly. The families called the situation a complete mess.​

[Pkg]

The bereaved families of the 29 people who died in a fire in Jecheon, Chungcheongbuk-do Province on December 21st, visited the site of the disaster. They made the visit in order to examine whether firefighters were late in responding to the fire as it's been continuously claimed and if the police's investigation and explanations were thorough and complete as supposed. The mournful families also wanted to check the scene where their loved ones died with their own eyes.

[Soundbite] Yoon Chang-hee(Representative of Bereaved Families) : "I think the second floor could have been extinguished from the first floor. They say they could not go up to the floor because of the flames, but it seems doubtful."

They were divided into two groups, which took turns to tour around the site for an hour, respectively. After the inspections, the families' eyes were wet with tears. In particular, they expressed resentment, noting that the second floor where the largest number of victims had died remained relatively undamaged, while the third floor from which all people had escaped was almost burnt down. They voiced criticism that the situation got worse, as people could not escape in time due to a blocked emergency exit.

[Soundbite] (Bereaved Family) : "Women were weak and could not break through the blocked emergency exit. But they could have been saved if there had been a hole somewhere and they had jumped out. They would have no serious injuries even if they had jumped from the second floor."

The families also criticized the poor fire prevention facility of the building, calling it a complete mess. Meanwhile, the police, firefighters, a joint investigative panel and an insurance company will hold a briefing on the results of their probes on Saturday.