Campsite fire probe finds safety hazards

Investigators accelerated their probe on Monday into the cause of a campsite fire that claimed five lives on Sunday, amid escalating concerns over the lack of safety regulations on outdoor camping facilities.

Five people, including three children, were killed, while two were injured after a fire engulfed a 16-square-meter tent on Ganghwa Island in Incheon. Two families were sleeping in the tent, police said.

Investigators said the electric panel used for heating in the tent appears to have sparked the blaze, which engulfed the tent made from combustible material in about three minutes. Fire extinguishers at the campsite also did not work, they added. 

Police are reportedly considering charging the head, manager and actual owner of the campsite for negligence resulting in death and sought an overseas travel ban against them. If the court issues the ban, their status will change to suspects, police said.

“They appear to be responsible for causing the deaths by establishing a facility vulnerable to fire,” investigators said.

Earlier in the day, authorities raided the campsite owner’s office and seized license-related documents, following questioning on Sunday over whether the site was properly equipped with fire equipment, they said.

The tragic fire prompted calls to fortify the blind spot around safety regulations on increasing the number of outdoor camping facilities nationwide.

Under accommodation law, lodgings are required to register their business to authorities and have appropriate safety equipment.

Outdoor campsites, however, have not been considered as accommodation facilities, although they operate as quasi-lodgings equipped with various electrical home appliances and heating devices.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ordered outdoor accommodation owners to register their businesses in January with a grace period of five months until May. The campsite where the fire broke out was not registered.

According to the ministry, 90 percent of some 1,800 campsites in the country remain unregistered.

When the National Disaster Management Institute conducted a random safety inspection in 2013, about 80 percent of 430 campsites across the country received the lowest grade of “E” in safety. Only 17 of them acquired the “A” grade.

As the number of people camping soared to nearly 4.8 million as of 2012, the number of accidents at outdoor accommodations also drastically increased to 4,300, jumping 15-fold since 2010, data from the NongHyup Economic Research Institute showed.

As part of the efforts to prevent reoccurrence, the government and ruling Saenuri Party said they would draft up a set of measures on Tuesday.

The Seoul city government also conducted an emergency safety inspection at a dozen local outdoor camping sites, officials said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)