A woman in her 20s in South Korea followed a 'new trick' for killing cockroaches she saw on YouTube, but accidentally caused a severe fire, resulting in 1 death and 8 injuries.
What makes the incident even more heartbreaking is that the deceased was a Chinese mother who had recently given birth. During the fire, she desperately handed her two-month-old baby to a neighbor next door, but tragically fell to her death herself.
This rare incident occurred at 5:35 a.m. on October 20 in a five-story mixed-use commercial and residential building in Gwacheon-dong, Osan-si, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
According to police investigations, the culprit, in an attempt to kill cockroaches, used spray paint and ignited it with a lighter, hoping to drive out or kill the pests. However, the flammable gas in the spray can instantly triggered a blaze. Although she tried to extinguish the flames, the fire spread rapidly and she had no choice but to call 119 for help.
Upon receiving the report, the fire brigade responded immediately. After about 40 minutes of rescue efforts, the fire was finally put out at 6:20 a.m. Unfortunately, during the evacuation, a Chinese woman in her 30s living on the fifth floor became trapped by dense smoke and poor visibility, causing her to fall from a height. She was rushed to the hospital but did not survive.
It is reported that this woman was a mother who had given birth only two months prior. At the time of the fire, since the building was less than a meter away from the neighboring building, she managed to hand her infant to the residents next door, successfully saving the baby's life, but she herself was unable to escape the blaze.
The ground floor of the building houses shops, while the second to fifth floors are residential, with a total of 32 households, most of whom are single renters. During the fire, 14 people escaped on their own, while 8 others were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Afterwards, the woman responsible told police that she had seen a similar 'spray paint + lighter' cockroach killing tutorial on YouTube and didn't expect such a tragedy to occur from copying it. The police have applied to the court for her arrest on charges of aggravated injury and negligent homicide.