Subway Arson Death Toll 134 – 99 Still Missing

A 57-year-old man is suspected of setting a fatal fire in a train station in South Korea and has been taken into custody for questioning. An official at the Taegu Emergency Rescue Centre said 134 were dead, 136 injured and 99 people missing after fire and smoke engulfed the packed subway train in Taegu in the south-east of the country yesterday. Firefighters with breathing apparatus hunted for bodies and dragged out survivors at the underground station. Dense, dark smoke was billowing from vents and stairwells. As many as 600 passengers were aboard the train when the fire started about 10am (2pm Sydney time), YTN television said. Witnesses saw a middle-aged man wearing a blue track- suit board a compartment of the subway train in the centre of the city and set alight liquid from a plastic cannister. “He soaked the floor of the train with the liquid and lit it with his cigarette lighter,” Jun Yung-nam, 64, was quoted as telling Yonhap news agency. “The fire quickly spread and the man fled the scene.” The chief of Daegu police, Suh Hyon-soo, said the suspect was believed to be mentally ill. “It is not known immediately what has motivated him. We believe he is mentally ill. He is known to have been treated at a mental hospital,” he said. Full Story