A Civil Servant of the Office of Railroads Who Saved People

In the incendiarism happened at the Joongangro Station of the Daegu Subway, there were more victims in the Train 1080 that came into the station and stopped later than the Train 1079 that the fire originally broke out.

However, it has been known that the composed and quick disposal of a civil servant of the Office of Railroads, who was on board of the Train 1080 at the time of the incident, reduced the number of victims.

Mr. Gwon, Choon-Sub (45. Sangin-Dong, Dalso-Gu, Daegu), who is the Director of the Kumho Station in Kumho-Eup, Yongchon-City, Gyongbuk,, was on board of the 4th car in this train on the 18th.

At around 9:56 in the morning on the 18th, three minutes after the fire being broken out at the Train 1079, the doors of the Train 1080 that entered into the Joongangro Station were opened momentarily and closed again. Through the PA system of the train, an announcement was broadcasted saying, `there is fire broken out, so please wait.` Although it was difficult to breathe because of smoke, the doors were never opened again.

Mr. Gwon perceived immediately that the situation was not usual and prepared to open the door manually by opening the emergency coke under the seat near the door. While the lights in the car were out with only emergency lights were on, Mr. Gwon opened the door with his hand easily. It was because Mr. Gwon, who had worked as a train conductor for 10 years and as a train master for 4 years, knew well about the course of action in an emergency.

Mr. Gwon explained the situation at the time, “While the train was entering the station, the electric sign was exploded with noise, so I thought the situation was not usual and prepared to open the door,” and “I waited if the train moved, but I thought I would better not wait anymore, so I opened the door.”

As soon as Mr. Gwon opened the door and got out, other passengers started to get out. Witnesses are saying that there were around 60 passengers at the 4th car at the time of incident because passengers from the back cars moved to there avoiding smoke.

Mr. Kim, Ho-Taek (43), who was on board of the 4th car, said, “While some women were calling on the cell phones in tears saying, `I cannot go out because of fire,` and others were coughing because of smoke, somebody opened the door, so we could get out.”

If we consider the fact that in some cars, passengers helplessly died from suffocation because the doors were not open, Mr. Gwon`s composed and quick disposal during the situation like that saved many lives.

Mr. Gwon was heartbroken and said, “Even the young and feeble people could open the emergency coke, but they seemed not be able to see it because of power outage and smoke,” and “people were not informed about the course of action in case of fire in the subway, so many precious lives were sacrificed.”

He vigorously criticized about the emergency facilities in the station, “If only the arrows indicating exits were lit as emergency lights, we could get out more easily, and if so, we could save a lot of victims.”

Mr. Gwon is being treated at the Youngnam University Hospital because he breathed much smoke while he was wondering around the total darkness of the station after getting out of the train.

Jin-Young Hwang buddy@donga.com