Fire in South Korea kills 7, injures dozens; arson suspected

SEOUL, June 9 (UPI) -- A fire on Thursday at a law firm in the southern city of Daegu, South Korea, has left at least seven people dead and 46 people injured, officials said.

The case is being investigated as a possible act of arson. Police investigators identified a suspect in his 50s based on CCTV footage, but said that he is believed to have been killed at the scene.

Officials said the suspect had called the lawyer's office several times with a grudge over the handling of his case, according to news agency Yonhap.

The fire department responded to a report of an explosion and black smoke coming from the second floor of a seven-story building housing law offices near Daegu district court at around 10:55 a.m. Some 60 fire trucks and more than 150 firefighters responded to the scene and were able to extinguish the blaze in 20 minutes.

Daegu, a city of 2.4 million, was the site of the deadliest arson incident in South Korean history, a 2003 subway fire that killed 192 people and injured 151 others.

South Korea has also suffered a number of deadly accidental fires in recent years that have raised concerns about industrial safety standards, including a 2020 warehouse blaze near the city of Incheon that killed 38 and a hospital fire in the city Miryang that left 37 dead.