A five-year-old child recently died during a fire at a workers’ residential complex near Kimchaek Port in Kimchaek, North Hamgyong Province, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that a fire occurred at a workers’ residential complex in Kimchaek Port on Nov. 26, burning three homes.
“A young child could not escape from one of the homes and died,” he said.
According to the source, the fire occurred at around 10 AM, after all the husbands had gone to work.
Only wives and children were at home when the fire broke out. Everyone ran outside and began fighting the blaze, taking three hours to finally extinguish it.
Workers’ homes around Kimchaek Port receive water only once a week, so people have to draw water from faraway public taps or hand-dug wells, even in the cold winter.
Given these circumstances, it was hard to put out the blaze because people were short of the water they needed to fight the fire.
The source said in the chaos, people were unable to rescue a five-year-old child who was playing alone at home.
“They got the child out about an hour after the fire started. The boy was unconscious after suffering burns and inhaling smoke. They rushed him to the hospital, but he ultimately died,” he said.
Police investigators found that a family put a coal brazier usually used for cooking into their living room. Sparks from the brazier set the floor paper on fire, and to make matters worse, a lighter in the room exploded, which spread the fire further.
Additionally, the family left a gas canister for a mobile barbecue grill in a corner of the kitchen without its cap closed, adding fuel to the fire.
“The families [who lost their homes in the fire] in the cold weather still have nowhere to go, so neighbors are taking care of them,” said the source, adding, “The workplace where the fathers work got together to repair the homes, but they only partially repaired them, so the affected families are complaining of mixed feelings about it all.”
The mother who lost the child in the accident has reportedly been bedridden after fainting while crying tears of grief, bitterly regretting that she left the brazier in the room.
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