Seul, South-South Korea Korea plans to question a 56-year-old man under suspicion of starting at least one of the forest fires that recently devastated the southern regions of the country, killing 30 people and burning more than 119,000 acres of land.
The Provincial Police Department of Northern Gyeongsang said that unidentified man could have used fire while cleaning the grass -covered grass in a family grave in a hill in the southeast city of Uiseong, one of the areas most affected by forest fires.
Police investigators examined the tomb site on Monday morning and plan to question man soon. The Police Department did not immediately said if others would also be interrogated about suspicious links with forest fires, that firefighters believe that they may have been caused by multiple human errors, which also include burning of garbage and sparks of welding work.
Driven by dry and suction conditions, forest fires were triggered for a week, destroying thousands of houses and leaving mountains covered with ashes, before firefighters, helped by rain, control them on Friday.
The 30 murdered people had most of the 60 years or more. They include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during fire extinguishing efforts and four firefighters and other workers who died before after being trapped by flames that moved quickly. At least 45 people were injured, including nine serious.
The fires damaged or destroyed more than 6,000 structures, including more than 1,000 houses each in the southeast city of Andong and the nearby coastal city of Yeongdeok, as well as more than 330 houses in Uiseong.
The fires in Uiseong damaged around 20 of the 30 structures in the Gousa Temple complex, which is said to originally built in the seventh century. Among them were two “treasures” designated by the State: a pavilion with a view to a current dating from 1668, and a structure of the Joseon dynasty built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king.
