Daegu, South Korea
At least 120 people burned to death this week when a man lit a firebomb in a crowded subway train in South Korea’s third-largest city. The fire started in a train sitting in a station and quickly spread to another train. Many trapped passengers managed to call relatives on cell phones before suffocating on the fumes. Panicked relatives rushed to the station only to wait three agonizing hours for firefighters to subdue the flames and clear the toxic smoke. The suspected arsonist, Kim Dae-han, 56, is a truck driver with a history of mental illness. YTN television news said Kim had once threatened to burn down a hospital where he said he received poor treatment.
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