Korean driver faces negligence charges for fleeing burning train with doors locked

A driver in the underground railway arson attack that left 133 dead might be charged with negligence for fleeing his train and leaving the doors locked, police said yesterday. The blaze, which trapped two trains in Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city, was started by a mentally disturbed man who told police he wanted to commit suicide.

The driver, named only as Choi, and nine other underground officials are being questioned about negligence, the chief police investigator, Cho Doo Won, said. The fire was set on one train in Joongang station. A second train, driven by Choi, was allowed to enter the station, even as the first train burnt at the platform, investigators said. Choi escaped with his master key, leaving passengers trapped in their cars and choking in flames and toxic fumes, Mr Cho said.

The driver claimed he fled believing the doors had opened and the carriages had been evacuated. Once the master key is pulled out, the doors automatically close, Mr Cho said. Most of the passengers on the first train escaped.

Police are concentrating on the underground controllers who allowed Choi's train into the station while the first train was blazing. Transcripts of radio exchanges showed they told Choi: "When you enter the Joongang station, drive carefully. There is a fire."

In the station, Choi saw black smoke seeping into his six-car train and his passengers choking. He tried desperately to pull out, but the electricity had been cut and he was unable to move the train. "It's a mess," Choi is recorded as saying. "It's stifling. Take some measures, please. Should I evacuate the passengers? What should I do?"

For five minutes, train operators hesitated. Choi told police he finally decided to evacuate his train and opened the doors. Some victims called relatives by mobile phone from the burning train and said the doors were not opening. The remains of 79 people were in the second train. More than 50 were in two cars with locked doors.Many were so badly burnt only 46 have been named so far.

Officials said 146 people were injured and 388 still unaccounted for, though that number was inflated by double reporting and other clerical glitches. Witnesses said the arsonist, Kim Dae Han, 56, lit a container of flammable liquid with a cigarette lighter. Yesterday, hundreds of people grieving over the victims of the railway fire angrily confronted the president-elect of South Korea, demanding quick action to identify the dead.

"Where am I supposed to find my child?" one weeping woman asked when Roh Moo Hyun arrived to lay a flower at a makeshift altar for the dead in Daegu. The authorities said identifying all the victims might take as long as two months.