South Korean police have reported that a woman in her 20s accidentally set her apartment ablaze while attempting to kill a cockroach using an improvised flamethrower.
According to local media, the woman tried to burn the insect with a lighter and a flammable spray, saying she had used the same method before. However, some items in her apartment caught fire on Monday, and the flames quickly spread throughout the building.
Police in the northern city of Osan stated they plan to request an arrest warrant for the woman, who may face charges of accidental arson and causing death by negligence.
The BBC reported that one of the woman’s neighbours, a Chinese national in her 30s, died while trying to escape the blaze. The victim lived on the fifth floor of the building with her husband and their two-month-old baby.
When the fire broke out, the couple opened their window and called for help. They passed their baby to a neighbour in an adjacent block before attempting to escape. The husband managed to climb over, but the woman tragically fell. She was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead hours later.
Police said the couple likely tried to escape through the window because thick smoke had blocked the stairway. The building contained commercial shops on the first floor and 32 residential units from the second to fifth floors.
Authorities confirmed that eight other residents suffered smoke inhalation.
According to The Guardian, the use of blowtorches or makeshift flamethrowers to kill cockroaches has become a social media trend. In 2018, an Australian man similarly set his kitchen on fire while attempting to eliminate cockroaches using the same method.
