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An explosion and ensuing fire at an apartment management office in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, have left eight people injured. The 70is resident who started the fire suffered burns and was arrested by the police while wandering the vicinity armed with a weapon.

TBC reporter Park Dong-joo has the details.

[Reporter]

It was around 8:30 a.m. when the management office of an apartment complex in Gyeongsan became engulfed in flames.

Startled by a loud popping sound, residents rushed outside.

[Kim Jin-sik / Eyewitness: There was a loud bang, and when I looked out in shock, white smoke was rising and people suddenly screamed. As they were coming out, the fire flared up rapidly.]

The person who brought flammable substances and ignited the fire using a lighter was a 72-year-old resident identified as A, who lives in the apartment complex.

Although the fire was extinguished in about 20 minutes, seven fellow apartment residents who were inside the management office were injured and are receiving treatment at a hospital.

Among the three individuals who sustained serious injuries, one is in critical condition.

It was reported that they had gathered early in the morning after discovering that the apartment security camera wires had been unplugged, and were discussing countermeasures.

[Eyewitness: When I went down in the morning, someone had unplugged all the CCTV cables.]

The suspect, A, wandered around the apartment complex shouting and brandishing a weapon immediately after the incident, before being apprehended by police officers who responded to the report.

A also sustained burns over his entire body and is currently receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.

[Choi Sang-yeol / Head of Detective Division, Gyeongsan Police Station: The responding police officers saw that the suspect was holding a knife, so they ordered him to drop it at gunpoint. He dropped the knife, and we have separately seized that weapon.]

The police plan to book suspect A on charges of arson resulting in injury to an inhabited structure and possession of a weapon in a public place, while conducting further investigations depending on his recovery progress.

(Video by Park Jong-young, TBC)

TBC Park Dong-joo