Hotel owner, operator booked for negligence after fire leaves seven dead

Police booked the hotel owner and one other individual on Monday after a fire at a hotel in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, left seven people dead Thursday.

Officials from the Bucheon Hotel Fire Investigation Headquarters of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency are seen at the scene of the fire on Monday. [YONHAP]

Police booked the hotel owner and one other individual on Monday after a fire at a hotel in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, left seven people dead Thursday.

The Bucheon Hotel Fire Investigation Headquarters of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency announced Monday that it charged the hotel’s owner and another individual listed as the hotel's operator on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death and banned them from leaving the country.

Police talked to 15 other people, including survivors, witnesses and hotel employees.

Police plan to investigate the exact causes of the fire and how it spread so quickly.

The fire erupted on the eighth floor of a nine-story hotel in Jung-dong in Wonmi District, Bucheon, at 7:39 p.m. on Thursday. The seven deaths were guests in their 20s and 50s.

The victims, all Korean nationals, included four men and three women, said police. Twelve others were injured, three seriously, and taken to the hospital for treatment.

The police previously requested the National Forensic Service (NFS) to conduct an autopsy on the bodies of the seven who died from the fire. In a preliminary verbal report, the NFS told police that five of the deceased are presumed to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and two died from falling.

While the fire did not spread to the entire hotel building, damage was extensive because toxic gases spread quickly inside the premises and sprinklers were not installed in the guest rooms.

Funeral procedures for the seven victims of the fire were completed Monday.

The funerals of five of the seven who died were held Monday morning, according to the Bucheon city government. The two others’ funerals were completed previously on Sunday.

In Korea, funerals are held for three days immediately after death.

Among the deceased were a couple who were staying in a room on the seventh floor of the hotel at the time of the fire before their wedding.

The bereaved families held a joint funeral for the couple at the funeral hall of a general hospital in Bucheon.

“All seven victims were buried or cremated yesterday and today,” a Bucheon city official said Monday. “We plan to continue to provide psychological treatment and legal counseling to the victims’ families.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]