[Anchor]

A firefighter who fell into cardiac arrest during a factory fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, yesterday (October 16) has ultimately passed away. It is reported that the firefighter was dispatched to the scene just 20 minutes before his shift ended, resulting in his death in the line of duty.

For our leading story on Saturday's 8 O'Clock News, reporter Dong Eunyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

44-year-old Fire Inspector Kim Jin-seok was transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest following the factory fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, yesterday.

Despite fighting for his life in the intensive care unit, Inspector Kim ultimately passed away in the line of duty at 12:55 AM today.

A firefighter with 13 years of experience, Inspector Kim had completed his 24-hour shift and was just minutes away from getting off work at 9:00 AM.

However, at 8:38 AM—about 20 minutes before his shift ended—a report came in regarding a fire at the factory. He arrived at the scene within five minutes and, paired with a colleague, was the first to enter the factory.

The two carried out suppression operations for about 20 minutes before becoming trapped by intensifying flames and smoke.

When they were rescued 30 minutes later, Inspector Kim was in cardiac arrest, and his accompanying colleague also sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the hospital.

The bereaved family told SBS reporting teams, "We remember how overjoyed Inspector Kim was when he was appointed as a firefighter," adding, "He has a young daughter scheduled to enter elementary school next year," unable to hold back their tears.

Fire authorities stated that they plan to grant the late Fire Inspector Kim a posthumous one-rank promotion to Fire Inspector (Note: promoted from senior firefighter/fire sergeant depending on rank structure, translating strictly as designated) and pursue the conferral of a decoration.

Citizens continued to visit the joint memorial altar in Sejong, and fellow firefighters could not hide their grief.

[Ahn Jun-shik / Busan: My heart aches. I hope that we can have a stronger awareness of safety and well-established institutional measures so that tragedies like this do not happen again.]

President Lee Jae-myung stated via social media, "We will not forget the deceased's sacrifice," adding, "We will thoroughly review safety measures to ensure that frontline personnel can carry out their duties safely."

President Lee subsequently visited the mortuary around 6:00 PM to pay his respects, comfort the bereaved family, and personally confer a decoration before the portrait.

(Video by Lee Jae-young and Lee Chan-soo | Video Editing by Lee So-young | Design by Cho Su-in)