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Skorea train arson Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/3435589?source=Evening%20Standardhttp://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/3435589?source=Evening%20Standard
134 dead in Tube attack
By Patrick McGowan, Evening Standard
18 February 2003
An arson attack on an underground train in South Korea today killed at least 134, injured 136 and trapped dozens more in carriages filled with choking smoke.
It is feared the death toll could rise, as fire officials said 99 people are still missing.
As many as 600 passengers were on board the train when the fire started at around 10am.
In the attack in the southern city of Taegu a man in a tracksuit set light to a milk carton filled with flammable liquid.
As rescuers carried victims - their faces and clothes black with soot - out into the street one witness described the terrifying scene inside the subway as the fire began.
"The man kept flicking a lighter and an old man told him to stop," he said. "The man dropped the lighter and the train caught fire. Several young men seized him, but the fire spread and black smoke rose. Then everyone rushed out."
Police were later questioning Kim Dae-han, 46, who was shown on Korean television being treated by nurses in hospital. He sat frowning on a ward bed, his face and hands smeared with soot.
It quickly emerged that the arrested man has a psychiatric history. "It is not known what motivated him but we believe he is mentally ill," said police chief Suh Hyonsoo. "He is known to have been treated at a mental hospital."
Soon after the fire began, the thick black smoke was seen billowing out of ventilator shafts. Most of those who died are thought to have been trapped on the train when the doors slid shut as it prepared to leave the station.
One man whose wife was on the train said she had told him by mobile phone: "Help me. There's a fire on the subway. The door is locked." City centre traffic came to a standstill as ambulances and 66 fire engines rushed to the scene.
After three hours the fire was extinguished but rescuers were prevented by toxic gases from entering the wrecked carriages.
A dozen subway workers are among the missing.
A Korean police spokesman said: "We are checking on possible additional deaths. We are still trying to assess the situation as passengers are being transported to hospital.
"We don't know exactly how many passengers have been affected, but the fire appears to have been caused by arson. When the man tried to use a cigarette lighter to light the box, some passengers tied to stop him. Apparently a scuffle erupted and the box exploded into flames."
Taegu was a venue for last year's soccer World Cup.
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