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A police investigation into Tuesday's subway fire tragedy in the South Korean southeastern city of Daegu is focusing on possible mistakes made by subway staff in dealing with the emergency.
The tragedy was caused by an arson attack on a subway train by a South Korean local resident who suffered from mental illness. About 125 passengers were dead, 145 injured and 370 listed missing.
After questioning 108 people related to the incident including passengers, drivers and subway staff, the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency said it has ascertained the control center of the subway system allowed the second subway train to the same station where the first train stopped because of fire.
"The control center permitted No. 1080 subway train to arrive at Jungangno Station, only telling the driver, 'Be careful, a fire has broken out at the station,'" the police said.
Moreover, the central control office missed the best time to evacuate the passengers within the initial five minutes after the fire broke out.
Legal punishment is an option if anyone is found to have been in dereliction of their duty, police said.
South Korean incoming President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday morning visited the subway incident site, expressing his condolences to the victims and vowing to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident.
"The incoming administration is preparing to set up an emergency management agency to cope with disasters," Roh said in a meeting with representatives of victims' families.
He will take office on Feb. 25, and the scale of his inauguration ceremony has already been dwindled due to the grief mood throughout the country.
A joint team from Kyungpook National University and the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NISI) moved some 70 unidentified bodies recovered from the ruins to a hospital to identify them Thursday.
The identification work is expected to be finished in least a month because some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.
The South Korean government will provide financial assistance of up to 20 million won (US$16,700) for households affected by the subway disaster, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) on Thursday.
Moreover, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s Red Cross Society delivered a telephone message to the (South) Korean Red Cross earlier Thursday to express condolences on the disaster.
The country's outgoing President Kim Dae-jung also thanked leaders of foreign countries for their messages of sympathy and condolences over the accident.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin, US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, French President Jacques Chirac and Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi have sent messages to Kim Dae-jung.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2003)
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