A woman in her 30s died after saving her two-month-old baby from a fire in Osan, Gyeonggi province, South Korea.
The fire started at approximately 5:35am local time on 20 Oct 2025 at a five-storey commercial-residential building, reported The Korea Times.
The Fire’s Origin
A woman in her 20s living on the second floor started the blaze while attempting to kill a cockroach using a lighter and aerosol spray.
She told police she learned the method from YouTube. The technique created a makeshift flamethrower.
Flames spread to a nearby bed and piles of trash before spiralling out of control. The woman called emergency services. Firefighters extinguished the blaze within approximately 40 minutes.
Desperate Escape Attempt
The victim, a Chinese national, lived on the fifth floor with her husband and their infant. Thick smoke from the second-floor fire blocked the emergency staircase. The family couldn’t use standard evacuation routes.
The couple feared the smoke’s impact on their newborn.
The family opened a window and called for help from their fifth-floor apartment. Their building stood less than one metre from an adjacent structure.
Neighbours in the next building reached across and received the infant through the window. The husband climbed across to safety.
Fatal Fall
The mother fell while attempting to climb across to the neighbouring building.
She sustained critical injuries and was transported to Ajou University Hospital. Doctors pronounced her dead at approximately 10:40am local time, about five hours after the incident began.
The baby survived unharmed.
Legal Consequences
Police plan to request an arrest warrant for the second-floor resident who started the fire. She faces charges of fire caused by gross negligence and death by negligence.
Authorities said the suspect had used the same pest-control method previously without incident.
