In South Korea, a woman set fire to an apartment building while trying to kill a cockroach with a homemade flamethrower. Police will ask the court to issue a warrant for her arrest, local media reported.
One of the woman’s neighbours died as a result of a fall from a window – she was trying to escape.
The woman in her twenties told police she tried to burn the cockroach with a lighter and an aerosol, which is easy to use, adding that she had used this method before.
This time, however, things in her flat burst into flames.
Osana City Police said the woman could face charges of arson and causing death by negligence.
Using flamethrowers or homemade torches to kill cockroaches is a dangerous method of pest control that homemade flamethrowers made from an insecticide canister.
The woman who died in the fire in Osan City was a Chinese national in her early thirties. She lived on the fifth floor with her husband and two-month-old child.
When the couple realised that a fire had broken out in the house, they opened a window and started calling for help. They handed the baby through the window to a man from a neighbouring block and then tried to escape.
The man managed to climb into a neighbouring building. The woman tried to do so as well, but fell.
She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead a few hours later.
Police believe the couple tried to escape through a window because thick smoke from the fire blocked the stairs, local media reported.
The building has commercial space on the ground floor and 32