‘I won’t be able to breathe in 5 minutes’: Daughter says final words to mum before dying in hotel fire in South Korea

Daughter shares painful final call with mum before perishing in hotel fire in South Korea

”Mom, Dad, I don’t think I can hold on for even five minutes. You have to live well, even for my sake.”

Those were the words uttered by a woman on a call to her mum shortly before she died from smoke inhalation.

The woman was one of seven victims who died as a result of a hotel fire in South Korea on Thursday (22 Aug).

Parents mourn the loss of their daughter’s bright future

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the victim in question was a 28-year-old woman known as Kim.

“I can’t believe I have to prepare a memorial table for my daughter on my birthday,” said her father at the funeral hall housing Kim’s remains.

Kim was a hard worker, according to her father. She worked at a mobile phone store during the day and at a restaurant at night.

She had even begun to resume her education by enrolling at a university before the tragedy cut her plans short.

Seven killed, a dozen injured in blaze

Kim was among seven victims who perished in the hotel fire. She was one of the five who died due to smoke inhalation.

The other two died when they leapt from the eighth floor onto an inflatable cushion that firefighters had set up outside the hotel.

However,  the cushion reportedly flipped after the first person hit the hard edge of the cushion. This caused both victims to sustain fatal injuries from their fall.

The victims, comprising four men and three women, were all Korean nationals.

Fire possibly made worse because hotel did not have sprinklers

In a press conference on Friday (23 Aug), fire officials said the hotel fire was made worse by the lack of sprinklers.

Investigations revealed that the fire possibly started in an unoccupied room on the eighth floor of the nine-storey building. Because the room was unprotected by sprinklers, toxic fumes quickly spread throughout the upper floors.

Authorities say the fire was likely caused by “electrical problems”.

The victims were mostly found in the rooms and hallways on the eighth and ninth floors.

The hotel in question was built in 2003 before laws mandated sprinklers. In 2017, lawmakers passed a regulation requiring buildings with over six floors to have sprinklers.

However, the law didn’t retroactively apply to older buildings, with the exception of nursing homes and hospitals.

Also read: Kitchen fire breaks out at Great World Serviced Apartments, 2 hospitalised & 150 evacuated

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Featured image adapted from MBC News and 조세일보.