Police have forwarded the owner of a restaurant and the head of a gas installation company to the prosecution in connection with the LP gas explosion in Bongmyeong-dong, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, which left 17 people injured and caused massive property damage.

Cheungju Heungdeok Police Station announced that it has sent the head of a gas installation company, identified by the surname A, along with the corporate entities of the gas installation and gas supply companies where A serves as head and an executive, to prosecutors without detention on charges including professional negligence resulting in injury.

Restaurant owner B was also forwarded without detention on charges including professional negligence resulting in injury.

A is suspected of causing the explosion by shoddy installation of the gas pipes at the restaurant where a gas leak occurred three days prior to the accident.

A is also accused of inspecting the site the day before the accident after receiving a report from the owner that an alarm was sounding from the gas leak warning cutoff device, but dismissing it as a malfunction and turning off the power to the circuit breaker.

Regarding restaurant owner B, police stated that investigations showed B left work the day before the accident without closing the intermediate LP gas valve. Given that the power to the gas cutoff device was turned off, police determined that B, as an handler of LP gas, had a duty of care to close the intermediate valve.

The explosion, which occurred on April 13, injured 17 people including local residents, and resulted in over 300 reports of damage filed by nearby apartments and commercial buildings.

(Photo: Yonhap News)