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At least 120 people have reportedly been killed in the accident of the burned train cars in an arson attack on a subway train in Deagu, some 300 kilometers south to Seoul, on Tuesday.
Rescue workers had given up their search for survivors by the afternoon, more than 130 were injured. As the investigation is going on, police still did not know the motivation of the arson, according to local television.
Eight nearby hospitals, including Kyungpook National University Hospital, were busy in treating victims, many of whom were reported to be in critical condition.
Local TV channels showed doctors and nurses were racing against the time to cure the patients, and relatives of the injured were waiting outside with anxiety. The residents who found their relatives' names in the bulletin board were crying with great sorrow.
The police apprehended a 56-year old male suspect who was also receiving treatment in a hospital.
Eyewitnesses said the tragedy erupted when the man set fire to a plastic bottle containing inflammable liquid and threw it into a subway car arriving at the station, "though nearby passengers battled with him."
The blaze instantly spread to six other cars of the No. 1 line subway train and even to another train in opposite direction that arrived at the same platform.
The subway station suddenly plunged into chaos as the provision of the electricity was automatically cut off, hundreds of passengers trapped in the cars for they could not open the doors.
The suspect was reportedly to suffer from mentally illness, and his action was believed retaliation for his partial paralysis resulting from an accident of medical treatment.
According to television footage, the suspect arsonist refused to reply any questions of the police and reporters.
Due to the heavy fire and smoke from the intakes of the subway, the entire Daegu subway system was suspended.
Moreover, South Korean subway corporations in major cities conducted emergency inspections Tuesday to prevent recurrence of similar accident.
In Seoul, lots of staff members of the subway checked in all 280 subway stations of the capital city for suspicious packages and fire fighting systems, reported Yonhap.
Subway operators in Busan, the second largest city in the country, also ordered all stations to increase inspections of trains and facilities.
Record messages were repeatedly displayed in the stations to call on passengers to report any suspicious persons or materials and to instruct them on what to do in case of emergency.
South Korean outgoing president dispatched Lee Heun-sik, minister of administration and local autonomy industry, to Daegu to direct the rescue work. And he instructed the government to consider declaring the accident area as special disaster area which deserves financial and tax benefits for rehabilitation.
The Daegu city administration also set up a counter measure office in charge of the tragedy.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2003)
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