The Chinese ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui, yesterday called
for South Korea to open an investigation into the cause of a fire
that claimed the lives of eight Chinese and injured 17 others,
embassy officials said.
In a meeting with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Cho
Jung-pyo, Ning stated the Chinese government would monitor the
investigation closely.
The fire was a "shocking incident," and is being regarded very
seriously by the Chinese government, the ambassador said. He
requested that the South Korean government take appropriate action
to avoid similar incidents ensure in future and to make adequate
arrangements for the victims.
Ning will fly to Yeosu today to visit the injured in hospital
and express his condolences, Zhao Dengyu, consul at the Chinese
embassy, said, adding that three of the dead still need to be
identified.
The embassy is renewing efforts to contact the families of the
victims.
Earlier yesterday, the Chinese embassy dispatched a general
consul to Yeosu, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul, to join the
two Chinese consuls already sent down on Sunday afternoon.
Zhao said the embassy will receive the victims' families from
China and will expedite their visa applications. Whether the bodies
will be repatriated back to China or buried in South Korea will be
decided by the families, he added.
The fire broke out at a Yeosu immigration detention center
before dawn on Sunday, also killing an Uzbek national and injuring
a Sri Lankan.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry set up an emergency damage
control team yesterday. Meanwhile, the Yonhap News Agency quoted
unidentified witnesses as saying the fire had propagated from the
third floor of the four-storey building, although the cause was
still undetermined.
(China Daily February 13, 2007)
