After tragic fire deaths in South Korea, controversy erupts over the safety of air mattresses

Seoul, August 23. Controversy erupts over the safety of firefighters' rescue mattresses after two of the seven people killed in the Bucheon Hotel fire two days ago died while jumping on a rescue air cushion.

Video footage showed that the two – a man and a woman – died when they jumped from the hotel's eighth-floor windows onto the air mattress installed on the ground by firefighters, Yonhap news agency reported.

The mattress was seen tipping over after the woman landed on the edge. Then the man jumped four to five seconds later, but landed not on the mattress but on the bare floor.

Experts point out that air mattresses are particularly dangerous in high-rise fires and therefore cannot be considered a perfect evacuation tool.

Yoon Myung-oh, an honorary professor at Seoul University, said air mattresses would help people escape from low buildings below the fourth floor, and falls from greater heights were dangerous.

He also said there is a high risk of serious injury or death if people who are not well trained in the use of air mattresses jump on them.

Lee Young-joo, a professor at Kyungil University, also said that evacuation devices such as air mattresses and descending lifelines do not fully guarantee a safe escape and should only be used when normal evacuation is impossible.

According to fire authorities, the air mattresses currently used in the country are only approved for jumps from heights of 15 meters or less due to their absorption capacity and other factors.

However, some experts say the Bucheon hotel fire incident is very unusual because air mattresses are not designed to flip over easily.

Choi Young-sang, a professor at Daegu Health College, said it is very rare for air mattresses to tip over, as in the case in Bucheon.

He added that air mattresses are very heavy and therefore rarely move, let alone turn over.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor.

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