Khaberni - South Korean police have announced a comprehensive investigation involving a woman in her twenties after a huge fire broke out in a residential building in the city of Ulsan while she was attempting to kill a cockroach using a lighter and a flammable spray can.
The fire started when the woman, shocked by a cockroach appearing in her apartment, directed a flame at it, a method she had used before without issues. However, flammable materials in her apartment quickly caught fire, causing the flames to spread to the upper floors.
The incident resulted in the death of a 30-year-old Chinese neighbor who attempted to escape from her fifth-floor apartment through the window after being unable to descend due to the dense smoke that covered the main staircase. Her husband managed to move to the neighboring building, while she fell during her attempt and was transported to the hospital where she was declared dead hours later.
The residents reported that the couple handed their two-month-old child to a neighbor in the opposing building before attempting to escape.
Eight other residents were affected by smoke inhalation, while the building's units range between commercial shops on the ground floor and 32 residential units from the second to the fifth floor.
The local police explained that the woman could face charges of negligence and causing someone's death by the fire, as they seek an arrest warrant for her, according to the "BBC" network.
It is worth mentioning that using a "lighter" or direct flame to eliminate cockroaches has become a phenomenon widespread on social media, with similar incidents recorded in other countries, including Australia in 2018 when a man set fire to his kitchen while trying to burn cockroaches using an insecticide spray and a homemade fire generator.
