Woman dies after fire caused by neighbour torching cockroach with flamethrower

A mother fell to her death in South Korea after her neighbour accidentally started a fire in their building while trying to kill a cockroach.

The woman, who tried to torch the pest in her flat, told police that she made a makeshift flamethrower using a flammable spray and lighter, which she had used before.

But at around 5am on Monday, her bed and a pile of rubbish caught fire from the device and flames spread quickly throughout the five-storey block in Osan, a city 35km south of Seoul.

Her neighbour, a mum in her 30s, lived on the fifth floor of the same block with her husband.

They woke up and noticed a blaze had broken out.

The couple passed their two-month-old baby through the window to a neighbouring apartment block that was less than a metre away.

Police said the couple did this because black smoke had started to fill the stairway blocking their exit to safety.

The woman’s partner climbed out the window and into the adjacent building. She tried to escape in the same way but fell to the ground. She was rushed to hospital where she died five hours later.

Eight other people in the building suffered from smoke inhalation. The couple’s baby survive. The fire was extinguished by firefighters in 40 minutes.

Local police said the woman who is responsible could face charges including negligence resulting in death. 

Fire safety officials cautioned against using flammable chemicals to kill cockroaches. 

Using blowtorches and improvised flame throwers to kill unwanted insects in the home has become a deadly trend on social media.

In 2018 a man in Queensland, Australia, accidentally blew up his home after trying to kill cockroaches in his kitchen using insecticide as a flame thrower.

Photos posted at the time showed holes through the wall and blown up windows.

ABC News reported the man suffered from lacerations to his head and hand, which was caused by the impact of shrapnel from the explosion. He was taken to hospital where he had stitches. 

The local authorities believed the man had lit a ‘can and a half’ of bug spray, which had warnings saying not to expose the spray to a naked flame, while trying to exterminate the cockroaches. 

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