The mystery of how South Korea's worst wildfires in history began—or at least one of them—may soon be solved. The Guardian reports that police there have launched a probe that's focused on a 56-year-old man who they believe started a fire while tending to his grandparents' gravesites in the North Gyeongsang county of Uiseong. The BBC notes the man has been booked but not arrested, and that he'll be called in for questioning in about a month, once an investigation of the site has been wrapped up.
The man's daughter told authorities that her father was using a cigarette lighter on March 22 to burn branches hanging over the graves when the flames were "carried by the wind." The wildfires killed at least 30 people in total and resulted in nearly 120,000 acres of land getting scorched. Officials say the main fire was brought under control by firefighters by Sunday or Monday, but not before it had raged for more than a week and destroyed thousands of structures, including homes, factories, and historic buildings like the 1,300-year-old Gounsa temple.
Most of the deceased were reportedly in their 60s and 70s. Per CNN, tending to family graves is a long-held tradition in South Korea and other Asian nations, especially during the spring and fall. South Korean leader Han Duck-soo calls the fires the worst his country has seen in recent years, leading to "unprecedented damage" across the land. The AP notes that police aren't saying whether anyone else will be charged, as fire officials believe there wasn't just one large wildfire but several "sparked by multiple human errors ... including burning trash and sparks from welding work." (More South Korea stories.)
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