An official examines the ruins of an oil storage tank in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. The tank exploded and caught fire, Sunday, morning, though the blaze was completely extinguished by early Monday morning. Yonhap



By Jung Hae-myoung



Police detained a Sri Lankan man Monday for allegedly starting a fire that exploded an oil storage tank in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, the previous day.



According to an official at Goyang Police Station, the man flew a sky lantern from a construction site about a kilometer away from the gas storage site Sunday morning.



A sky lantern is similar to a miniature hot-air balloon.



The 27-year-old told police he bought the lantern and flew it Sunday morning for fun. He works at the construction site of an expressway nearby.



The lantern landed on grass within the storage compound and the grass caught fire. Police suspect a fire spark entered the ventilation system of the oil tank which led to the explosion.



"Surveillance camera footage showed the fire started after the lantern landed on the grass," the police official said. "We questioned people living around the area and confirmed the man launched the sky lantern."



Police plan to refer the man to the prosecution. They will also give a media briefing today about the details of the case.



The detention came hours after fire authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the massive fire and explosion. The blaze was completely extinguished in the early morning after burning for 17 hours.



Dozens of officials from 18 agencies including Goyang Police Station, the provincial fire headquarters, the National Forensic Service, the Korea Gas Safety Corp. and the Korea Electrical Safety Corp. visited the site and examined the fire-ravaged area.



The fire started Sunday at 10:56 a.m., and was fully contained by 3:58 a.m., Monday.



No casualties were reported, but the estimated damage is 4.3 billion won ($3.8 million). The fire did not spread to any of the 13 other tanks located at the facility.



The storage facility holds oil that is transported to gas stations in western Seoul and northern parts of Gyeonggi Province. The tank that exploded was 28.4 meters in diameter and 8.5 meters tall, and contained 4.4 million liters of oil.



The fire authorities raised the alert level to its highest, allowing for the mobilization of adjacent fire services from nearby regions. More than 680 firefighters and 200 firefighting vehicles including helicopters were employed to extinguish the fire.



Firefighters sprayed foam onto the fire while pumping remaining oil into other tanks through internal pipelines



Black smoke was observed as far as Jamsil in southeastern Seoul, 25 kilometers from Goyang, throughout Sunday.



Text messages were sent to residents in Gyeonggi Province and some areas in northwestern Seoul, warning people to close their doors and windows to avoid contact with harmful chemicals from the fire.



The authorities suspect a flame detector did not work properly.



Experts say oil fires are hard to control even if sensors function properly, because the oil ignites explosively within seconds.



"The temperature and the amount of oil mist should be monitored constantly to prevent large fires," said Lee Yong-jae, a professor of the Fire Safety and Management Department at Kyungmin University. "But the fire cannot start without a cause, even with a place full of oil mist."

