DAEGU, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- Heart-broken family members and survivors of a deadly subway fire that occurred in Daegu three years ago joined Saturday with city residents and dignitaries to hold a memorial ceremony.
The ceremony began at 9:53 a.m. with the sounding of a one- minute siren as participants in the ceremony and people across the city observed a moment of silence in memory of those who lost their lives.
Among the mourners at the ceremony held at the Daegu Citizen's Center building was main opposition Grand National Party leader Park Geun-hye and Environment Minister Lee Jae-yong, both of whom delivered a memorial oration.
The silence was followed by a dance-like ritual by performance artist Cho Sung-jin to soothe the souls of the victims and separate memorial services by Buddhist, Christian and Catholic groups.
On this day three years ago, a mentally disturbed man set fire to one of the cars of a six-carriage subway train in this southeastern city while it was picking up passengers at Jungangno Station.
Within minutes, the fire engulfed the entire train and another train that entered the station, with both sets of passengers trapped inside as the doors remained shut.
The tragedy left 192 dead and 148 injured.
This year's ceremony was organized solely by the family members of the victims as the city originally promised to host the event for the first two anniversaries.
However, a separate and smaller ceremony was also held near Jungangno Station by a group of other family members. The family members have split into two groups in the past as they differed on how to be compensated and how to organize the memorial.
