Arson suspect targets two patent law offices in Gangnam, injuring 19

"A man who looked to be in his 50s poured thinner at the office entrance and set it on fire. He came in carrying a canister of thinner."

Nineteen people were injured Tuesday after fires broke out in rapid succession at two buildings roughly 200 meters apart in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Employees inside one of the burning buildings said an unidentified man stormed in and started the blaze. Both fires originated inside patent law firm offices. Police opened an investigation, treating arson motivated by a personal grudge as the leading possibility among several lines of inquiry.

Around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, after the fires had been fully extinguished, an employee at the fourth-floor patent office in Hanyang Building told a reporter that a man with slurred speech had come in asking for a patent attorney. "He asked whether we knew a certain person by name, then poured thinner near the entrance and set it alight," the employee said.

The fire spread from the point of ignition to one employee's desk — a distance of about 20 meters — in one to two seconds. The blaze engulfed the space so quickly that workers panicked, only to find the exit blocked by flames. With no way out through the door, they smashed the windows and fled to an outdoor terrace adjoining the office. Shards of broken glass and thick patent law books used to break the windows were strewn across the floor, evidence of the desperate scramble to escape.

Blood had pooled where employees climbed through the broken windows, their foreheads and thighs cut by the jagged glass. Bloodied footprints ran the full length of the emergency staircase from the fourth floor down to the ground level.

One employee who suffered a serious gash to the forehead while climbing through a broken window said the outdoor terrace had been the only means of escape. "If that outdoor space hadn't been there, we probably wouldn't have made it out," the employee said. The worker had fled without time to put on proper shoes and was wearing mismatched slippers — dried bloodstains visible on them.

According to fire authorities, the first fire broke out at around 11:54 a.m. Tuesday on the third floor of Shinmyung Building in Yeoksam-dong. A second fire ignited about seven minutes later on the fourth floor of Hanyang Building across the street. Authorities raised a Level 1 emergency response at around 12:04 p.m., mobilizing 291 personnel and 56 pieces of equipment from the fire department, police, district office and other agencies. The fire at Hanyang Building was brought under control at around 12:35 p.m., while the blaze at Shinmyung Building was not fully extinguished until 2:20 p.m.

Shinmyung Building, where the first fire broke out, recorded 11 casualties. Of the two seriously injured, one was found in cardiac arrest in the third-floor corridor where the fire started. The person was rushed to hospital and was reported to have regained a pulse. Nine others sustained minor injuries, while about 60 people evacuated on their own.

At Hanyang Building, eight people inside were hurt — three seriously and five with minor injuries. All those injured were transported to 10 hospitals, including Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, where they are receiving treatment.

Suseo Police Station, which is leading the arson investigation, said it believes the suspect is a man in his 70s and is actively tracking his whereabouts. He is believed to have fled toward northern Seoul after the attack. "Police are investigating the Yeoksam-dong fires on suspicion of arson," a police official said.

Fire authorities plan to conduct a forensic examination to determine the precise cause of the fires and whether the buildings' sprinkler systems had activated.