The cause of a major fire at Kumho Tire's plant in Gwangju has been identified

In the police of the Korean city of Gwangju, where a major fire occurred at the Kumho Tire factory in May, it was reported that the cause was a failure to take fire safety measures. Negligence charges were brought against four employees, including the plant's director.

The fire covered an area of three football fields, and one worker and two firefighters were injured. A 20-year-old employee fell from the third floor, suffering serious injuries, and it is noted that since there was no evacuation alert system in the premises, he learned about the start of the fire only after 22 minutes, seeing a message from another employee in the messenger.

The cause was a malfunction of an industrial furnace installed in 1996, which the police called outdated equipment. It is reported that during the operation of the furnace over the past five years, 17 fires were recorded, and the automatic fire extinguishing systems worked only twice.

The police are also investigating why some employees, including cooks and security guards in the cafeteria, remained at the enterprise and were not notified of the evacuation.

"Training and briefing on fire safety were conducted formally and for individual employees," the police say. "The fire occurred because the necessary precautions were not taken at the factory, although management was aware of the risks."

Photo: news1.kr