Heard blast while walking nearby, shut off open gas valves before calling police

'If gas had kept leaking, the danger would have continued,' officer says

Actor Yun Dae-yeol. [Instagram]
Actor Yun Dae-yeol. [Instagram]

The civic hero who helped prevent further casualties in a gas explosion at an Incheon commercial building has been identified as Yun Dae-yeol, 48, an actor known for films including The Outlaws.

According to Yonhap, the Incheon Seobu Police Station said Yun helped limit additional damage during a gas explosion that occurred at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday at a ground-floor unit of a commercial building in Majeon-dong, Geomdan-gu, Incheon.

Yun was taking a walk near the scene when the blast rang out and ran toward the building.

Outside the shop, which had been thrown into chaos by the explosion, Yun found the valves on two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters open and quickly shut them off before calling police.

Yun lives near the scene and was already familiar with where the gas canisters were kept, which allowed a quick response to prevent further harm.

"If gas had kept leaking, the dangerous situation would have continued," a police official said. "We believe Yun's judgment prevented additional damage."

Yun built a career primarily on the stage before making a screen debut in 2014 with "Kundo: Age of the Rampant." Since then, Yun has appeared in numerous films, including "Asura," The Outlaws, "Hunt" and "Seoul Spring."

Meanwhile, renovation demolition work was under way inside the ground-floor restaurant when the blast occurred. The explosion left four people with burns to the face and other areas — three workers and the restaurant owner, all in their 60s — who were taken to hospital for treatment. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Police are investigating the exact cause of the accident, with one possibility being that sparks flew during the demolition work while a gas valve had been left open, triggering the explosion.


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