13 years ago, on this very day, the tragic "Daegu subway fire" occurred in Daegu, South Korea. A train that was stopped at Jungangno Station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway was attacked by an arsonist who set a fire which quickly spread to the second train that had entered the station and caused a mass murder.
9:53AM, the 56-year-old unemployed arsonist, Dae-Han Kim, began fumbling with fuel cartons and a cigarette lighter, alarming other passengers who tried to stop him. In this struggle, one of the cartons spilled and the liquid content caught fire as the train pulled into the station. Passengers of the first train could barely escape, but unfortunately, most passengers that were in the second train were unable to escape from the disaster.
In this catastrophe, 192 citizens were killed with 148 citizens left injured. The arsonist was imprisoned for life and eventually died in prison.
This disaster exposed the weakness of South Korea's disaster response system to the greater public and the government was reprimanded and promised to fix all the inadequate emergency equipments and ventilation system that worsened the incidence.
Condolences and sympathy goes out to all the victims and the victims' families of the Daegu subway fire. We must not forget this day, so that the same kind of tragedy won't be repeated.
