“I didn’t even have time to think about the fear of fire. I just wanted to save people.”

Around 2 pm on November 14th, Zunduihuu Undarmaa, a resident of Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do, heard a loud shout. Undrama, who lived on the 3rd floor, opened the window to look out and found a man hanging from the window sill and the 4th floor with smoke rising.

She said "After I told my mother to fill the bucket with water, I went up to the roof to check if the man was okay. And then I tried to open the door of the house on fire, but I was very afraid that the fire would burst like in the movie"

This Mongolian woman opened the door and confirmed that two houses were on fire. After that, she went back down to her house on the 3rd floor to take water. And then she went to the fourth floor again with the water bucket and started putting out the fire. Fortunately, it wasn't a big fire and the fire was put out soon after.

A fire truck arrived and firefighters rescued the man, but she hid herself to avoid being discovered due to the fact that she is an illegal immigrant.

“When I saw the firefighters, I hid in a nearby store and just watched the situation. At that time, I felt relieved that firefighters came to resolve but tears came from my fearful heart" she said.

Kim Dong-Hyeon, who was rescued, said, "I came home after eating meat grilled on charcoal outside the day before, but it rained a lot at dawn and the charcoal was wet and I thought it was all out, so I brought it home, but the fire started because of the remaining embers. I was so surprised that I was hanging on the window sill, but thanks to Undrama, I was able to save my life, so I'm very grateful to her"

Undrama's nationality is Mongolia. She came to Korea 13 years ago and is living in Korea working as a sewing machine in a factory near Gwangju.

Her younger sister got married in Korea and has Korean citizenship which enabled her to come to Korea with a two-month invitational visa. Her husband, who came with her, returned to Mongolia for the sake of her children, and she and her mother remained in Korea to cope with livelihood to take care of her family. In addition, she needed to take care of his divorced sister and nephew.

Undrama said, "I don't think it can be helped even if I leave Korea because this fact is known. However, I have a younger brother living in Korea, so when I come to Korea to visit my younger brother and nephew later, I wish I could come in without any major restrictions.“

By Myung-gu Pyo·Seok-kyun Oh

Translated by Seyong Lee