The fire in Daegu was most probably started by a small amount of thinner. Thinner is a very flammable liquid and this burning liquid started secondary fires. Thinner itself will not make much smoke and burns out very quickly. It might then seem like it was the interior of the subway cars that was causing the extensive heat and the heavy smokes. The fire, heat and smoke were of course the main reason that so many people lost their lives in the fire. A secondary reason that so many people were lost and damaged was that they could not get out of the burning train.

I have some comments regarding the safety in the subway cars:

* The interior of the cars is mainly made from Plastic. Plastic is a flammable material and produces much smoke and toxic gases when burning. Plastic should be avoided in the interior of trains. There are plenty of other materials that are better suited for this purpose.

* The seat stuffing is probably also plastic based. The stuffing should be changed to a non-flammable material.

* The floors in the subway cars are covered by linoleum, which is also flammable. Stainless steel or other inflammable material to increase safety should preferably replace the linoleum.

* The lever for the emergency door opener is located under a seat close to the door. This means that you have to bend down to operate the door opener. In a crowded subway car on fire, people will panic and most probably step on the person trying to operate the emergency opener. An emergency door opener should be located at a height so it is easily accessible for a person standing up. It should also be visible. It would be a good idea to have the opener inside a small glass window that could be broken in an emergency.

* The windows in the subway cars are impossible to open. If the doors should be jammed, the windows are the only way of escape. There should be special hammers with steelhead located beside every window. These hammers could then be used in an emergency escape situation.

* The fire extinguishers are located inside a cabinet in the end of the car. All fire extinguishers should be mounted on the wall, clearly visible and easy accessible. In a fire the cabinet might be difficult to open due to deformation or because of the heat.

* There is no means of contacting the driver if an emergency should occur in one of the cars in a train. An emergency telephone with direct line to the driver should be accessible in every car.

* There is no fire alarm button in the cars. A fire alarm button would if pressed immediately inform the driver about a fire and where the fire was located. As an extension to the local fire alarm in the train, the fire alarm could be linked to the subway system control center to aid a quick response to a fire.

These simple and not so costly items would increase passenger safety a great deal. They apply not only to subway cars, but also to train, ferry and bus transportation.

I hope that you will take this in to the newspaper to get a discussion about it in the Korean society, and hopefully the responsible companies will react to make passenger safety a number one priority. My Korean language is not so good, so it would also be nice if you translated my opinion into Korean

Best regards

Geir Christensen

Busan