A South Korean man would clean his family grave last Saturday.
Instead, he happened to start the biggest forest fire in the country’s history.
Now he is under police investigation, reports the AFP news agency.
The local police say to AFP investigating a 56-year-old man who is suspected to have started the forest fires who ravaged southeastern South Korea during the week.
30 people have died and over 48,000 hectares of forests have burned down.
Furthermore, over 27,000 people must have been forced to flee their homes.
Made some sort of rite
The suspected man’s daughter says her father tried to fire some twigs that hung over their family grave with a cigarette lighter.
The flames should then have spread with the wind and started a forest fire, says the daughter in her testimony according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The same news agency reports that the man – who denies the charges – must have performed a kind of rite.
4,000 buildings destroyed
The fires will mostly be under control on Sunday, but had to destroy about 4,000 buildings.
This includes the 1,300 year old Gounsa Temple, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Factors such as strong winds and extra dry fields after less rain than usual in the region must have contributed to the rapid spread of the fires.