Seoul: Police questioned company officials today to determine the cause of a devastating fire at a cold storage warehouse that left 40 people dead and 10 others injured, some with severe burns.

The fire and accompanying explosions ripped through the nearly completed warehouse in Icheon, about 80 kilometers south of the capital, yesterday, spewing toxic fumes over the surrounding industrial zone.

The badly charred bodies were found in the basement hours later, where fire official Kim Jung-geun said some of the workers had been injecting urethane foam into the walls of the facility.

Police were questioning officials from more than 10 subcontractors for Korea 2000,a logistics company that owns the warehouse, to determine the cause of the fire, said Jung Ha-gil, a detective working on the case.

He did not give further details, citing the ongoing investigation. Ten workers were hospitalized for burns and smoke inhalation. Another seven people were able to escape from the building.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said 12 ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality died and another was hospitalized for burns. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

More than 300,000 ethnic Koreans from China live in South Korea, according to the Justice Ministry. Like other foreign migrants, they often end up working in factories or doing difficult and low-paying work that affluent South Koreans have increasingly shunned.
Source : PTI