"If I Hadn't Reported Him Missing, My Father..." Bereaved Family of Siheung Fire Victim Expresses Grief

▲ Fire scene

"If I hadn't filed a missing person report, we wouldn't have found my father. How does this make any sense?"

The bereaved family of a man in his 60s, identified as A, who died in a fire at a vinyl greenhouse used as a weekend farm in Daeya-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on the night of June 27, expressed their frustration in a phone call with Yonhap News on Friday, July 3.

A had been living and working at a residential container within the approximately 290-square-meter greenhouse complex when he died in a fire, which is believed to have been caused by electrical issues.

At the time, fire authorities extinguished the blaze in about 40 minutes and searched the scene three times, concluding that there were no casualties.

Following this, police forensic teams conducted evidence collection for about an hour that night, and detectives revisited the scene the next morning, but they failed to discover the body.

Ultimately, it was the missing person report filed by the family that led to the discovery of the body.

The victim's daughter, B, learned of the fire later and, unable to reach her father, filed a missing person report with the police at 2:20 p.m. on June 28, one day after the fire occurred.

When the police tracked the location signal of A's mobile phone to the area around the greenhouse, they launched a search and discovered his body near the entrance of the container at 4:20 p.m. that same day.

This means the body had been left at the scene for approximately 17 hours after the fire was extinguished.

"Common sense dictates that they should have thoroughly checked the area near the door for anyone inside. I don't know if they just assumed there was no one there without properly looking, perhaps because there were structures piled up," B said, expressing her outrage.

She further criticized the response, adding, "Even if they couldn't find him in the dark of night, it is incomprehensible that the police who examined the scene after daylight also failed to find him."

Due to the time required for DNA testing to identify the body, as well as procedures for notifying the family and releasing the remains, the family was only able to set up a funeral altar on July 1, four days after the fire.

The funeral procession for the deceased is taking place today, July 3.

The family plans to demand a thorough investigation into the fire authorities and the police once the funeral is over.

"We have requested information disclosure from the fire authorities regarding the footage and radio logs from the time the fire was extinguished," B said. "We intend to question whether the police conducted a proper search after the fire, and why it took until after 6 p.m. to notify the family after the missing persons team discovered the body at 4:20 p.m. on June 28."

She added, "It is not that we are trying to assign blame, but we just want to know the truth about that day."

As the controversy grew, the fire authorities transferred the investigation, which was initially handled by the Siheung Fire Station's audit and human rights officer, to the inspection team of the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters.

An official from the fire authorities stated, "We can only provide an answer once the investigation results are out."

A police official explained, "At the time, we were informed by the fire authorities that there were no casualties, so we had no idea there would be a deceased person." Regarding the allegations of delayed notification, the official added, "We contacted the family without delay after going through the verification process following the discovery of the body."

(Photo: Provided by Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters, Yonhap News)

※