Woman in her 30s set blaze in piloti-style parking lot

20 residents evacuated overnight; 3 vehicles destroyed

A fire breaks out at a multi-unit residential building in Munjeong-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, early Sunday. Eight people suffered minor injuries in the blaze. [Yonhap]
A fire breaks out at a multi-unit residential building in Munjeong-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, early Sunday. Eight people suffered minor injuries in the blaze. [Yonhap]

A woman in her 30s who allegedly set fire to the parking lot of a multi-unit residential building in Munjeong-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, while intoxicated has been arrested. She was identified as the daughter of a resident of the building.

The Seoul Songpa Police Station said Sunday it had arrested the woman, identified only by her surname, on charges of arson of an inhabited structure and was investigating the case.

She is accused of starting the fire in the first-floor parking lot at around 12:37 a.m. Sunday. The blaze, which broke out in a piloti-style parking structure, left eight residents with minor injuries including smoke inhalation and destroyed three vehicles. Twenty residents evacuated on their own in the middle of the night.

The investigation found that the woman, the daughter of a resident of the building, set fire to cardboard boxes stacked in the parking lot while drunk. Police are looking into her exact motive and reviewing whether to seek an arrest warrant.


ken@heraldcorp.com