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Mother killed, young son critically injured in home fire in Namyangju

Published: 21 Sep. 2025, 14:02 Updated: 21 Sep. 2025, 17:39

A fire breaks out at a three-story housing building in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 21. [GYEONGGI-DO BUKBU FIRE HEADQUARTERS]

A fire broke out at a three-story multifamily home in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, leaving a woman dead, her young son critically injured and a firefighter hurt.

According to the Namyangju Bukbu Police Precinct on Sunday, the fire started at around 12:45 a.m. earlier in the day in a multifamily home in Toegyewon-eup, Namyangju. The blaze burned through a 36-square-meter (388-square-foot) section of the home and household items, causing property damage estimated at 30 million won ($21,000), before being extinguished in 45 minutes by responding firefighters.

Inside the home, a woman in her 40s and her 8-year-old son were found in cardiac arrest. They were transported to a nearby hospital, where the woman later died. The boy regained a pulse but remains unconscious.

One firefighter at the scene also suffered second-degree burns on his back during the rescue. About a dozen other residents of the building escaped on their own.

Police said the victims were a mother and son who lived in the home with the woman’s parents. The grandparents escaped harm because they had been sleeping at a nearby restaurant, which they operated at the time of the fire.

The fire is believed to have started in the first-floor laundry room of the home where the victims lived. Witnesses also reported seeing flames from the first floor. Fire authorities and police are investigating the exact cause of the fire.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI MO-RAN [[email protected]]