[Anchor]

Thirteen individuals, including the CEO, have been forwarded to prosecutors in connection with the fire at Anjeon Industry in Daejeon, which resulted in 74 casualties. Police and labor authorities have defined the incident as a textbook man-made disaster in which the damages were exacerbated because the risks were known yet ignored.

This report is from Kim Chul-jin of TJB.

[Reporter]

The Daejeon Anjeon Industry fire disaster last March left 74 casualties.

Regarding this accident, which resulted in the largest human toll in the Chungcheong region since the implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the police have forwarded 12 executives and employees, including CEO Son Ju-hwan, and one contractor to the prosecutors.

Labor authorities and the police defined the accident as one that occurred because risks were neglected for a long time and a safety and health management system was not established.

As a result of police analysis of internal documents and employee messenger chats, there were at least 48 fires at this factory over the past five years that were not made public outside.

In particular, out of the three lines in the factory—machining, forging, and hollow molding—fires were actually concentrated in the machining line, where the company had delayed investments in safety facilities under the judgment that the fire risk was low. This recent disaster also began in the machining line.

Working environment issues such as oil stains and sludge, which fueled the flames, took a backseat to meeting production quotas.

[Ryu Geun-sil / Head of the Metropolitan Investigation Unit, Daejeon Provincial Police Agency: Cleaning sludge or replacing pipes requires a long period of time, and doing so would cause problems for productivity, so they did not or could not carry out such replacements or cleaning.]

Statements also emerged that CEO Son was sensitive to fire alarm sounds and had turned off fire alarms even before checking for fires out of concern that production would be disrupted.

In addition, during the illegal extension of the rest area, fire compartments were damaged, and because fire doors were kept open at all times, flames and smoke engulfed the rest room just two minutes after the fire broke out, amplifying the casualties.

Meanwhile, the police plan to further investigate whether the safety inspections conducted by external organizations that monitored Anjeon Industry were appropriate.

(Camera Reporter: Kim Sung-soo, TJB; CG: Kang Ji-hyun, TJB)

Kim Chul-jin, TJB