Suspected Arson Attack In South Korean City Claims Seven Lives, Injures 50 More

Police in Daegu, South Korea, believe an arsonist is responsible for a fire that erupted Thursday at a lawyer's office building that killed seven people and injured as many as 50.

According to local reports, all seven of the victims were in the same room. An attorney and five assistants were among the victims. The office building is near the city’s district court, according to BBC News.

Local news reported that a 53-year-old male suspect was spotted on CCTV footage carrying the materials used to start the fire. The fire was started 23 seconds after he arrived on the floor.

According to the Associated Press, 31 of the injured people needed treatment at local hospitals. Smoke inhalation caused many of the reported injuries.

The fire occurred in the seven-story office building at around 10:55 a.m. local time. Fifty fire trucks and 160 firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished the fire.

Park Seok-jin, chief of the fire department that responded to the blaze, said that the high number of casualties was due to a lack of sprinklers.

It is likely the suspect died at the scene, according to Jeong Hyeon-wook of the Daegu Metropolitan Police.

Police have not confirmed a motive.

The suspect is believed to be a man who was disappointed with a lawsuit that he lost. The suit had sought to reclaim money invested in a residential and commercial building project.

Daegu, a city of 2.4 million people, is located about 190 miles south of the capital of Seoul.

The city experienced one of South Korea's largest arson attacks in 2003, when 192 people died after a 52-year-old man set fire to a subway train.