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South Korea hospital fire: dozens dead and many injured South Korea hospital fire: dozens dead and many injured
(about 5 hours later)
Reports say as many as 41 people have been killed in the blaze at the building in Miryang Reports say at least 37 people killed in blaze at building in Miryang, in south-east of country
Justin McCurry and agenciesJustin McCurry and agencies
Fri 26 Jan 2018 03.43 GMT Fri 26 Jan 2018 10.12 GMT
First published on Fri 26 Jan 2018 01.59 GMTFirst published on Fri 26 Jan 2018 01.59 GMT
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At least 41 people have been killed in a blaze at a hospital in South Korea, with dozens more injured, in one of the country’s deadliest fires in recent years. At least 37 people were killed and dozens injured in a fire at a hospital and nursing home in South Korea on Friday, in the country’s deadliest blaze for a decade.
Videos posted on social media showed a patient hanging on to a rope dangling from a helicopter above the hospital in the south-eastern city of Miryang, and another crawling out of a window to climb down a ladder. The fire at Sejong hospital in the south-eastern city of Miryang – coming weeks after a similar tragedy in another South Korean city – is certain to raise questions about building and safety standards in one of the world’s most advanced economies.
Other footage showed a helicopter flying above the building, which was engulfed by heavy grey smoke and surrounded by multiple fire trucks. The office of the president, Moon Jae-in, had earlier put the death toll at 41, but it was revised downwards on the advice of Miryang’s fire chief.
The six-storey structure houses a nursing home as well as the hospital. Many patients had no choice but to walk through flames and smoke to escape the first-floor blaze, according to local officials.
A spokesman for the national fire agency said more than 70 other people had been injured, 13 of them critically. The dead included a doctor, a nurse and a nursing assistant, according to the hospital’s director, Song Byeong-chol.
Almost 200 patients are were inside the hospital building and adjacent nursing home when the fire broke out at about 7.30am local time, the Yonhap news agency said. Song admitted in a televised briefing that the hospital did not have sprinklers. Fire agency officials said the building was not big enough to require a sprinkler system under South Korean law.
Almost all of the victims appeared to have died from smoke inhalation, it added. Under a new law, however, all hospitals are required to install sprinklers by the end of June. Song said the hospital had regular safety inspections and was planning to install sprinklers in the coming week.
The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, called an emergency meeting with senior aides to discuss the response to the fire, according to Yonhap. Officials said they were still investigating the cause, but are looking at a possible short circuit in the emergency room’s heating and cooling system.
“Two nurses said they had seen fire suddenly erupting in the emergency room,” said fire chief Choi Man-woo, but the cause of the blaze was not immediately known. Some patients used ladders and plastic escape slides to flee upper floors, while firefighters carried patients who were unable to walk.
Jang Yeong-Jae, a surviving patient, said he was on the second floor when nurses raised the alarm and urged people to leave through emergency exits. “But when I opened the exit door, the whole stairway was filled with dark smoke and I couldn’t see a thing,” he told the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.
“Everybody was running around in panic, falling over and screaming as smoke filled the rooms.”
Jang escaped by ripping open window screens and climbing on to a ladder put up by firefighters.
Videos posted on social media showed a patient hanging on to a rope dangling from a helicopter above the hospital, and another crawling out of a window to climb down a ladder. Other footage showed the building engulfed by heavy grey smoke surrounded by multiple fire trucks.
A list posted by fire officials outside the hospital identified at least 26 of the victims by name, with their ages ranging from 35 to 96. At least 20 were aged over 70.
The national fire agency said 125 people had been injured, 14 of them seriously.
At least 177 patients were inside the hospital building and adjacent nursing home when the fire broke out at about 7.30am local time, the Yonhap news agency said. Almost all of the victims appeared to have died from smoke inhalation, it added.
“Two nurses said they had seen fire suddenly erupting in the emergency room,” said the fire chief, Choi Man-woo, but the cause of the blaze was not immediately known. Most of those who died were on the first and second floors, said Choi, adding there were no deaths from burns.
All the remaining patients had been evacuated, he added.All the remaining patients had been evacuated, he added.
“The victims came both from the hospital and the nursing home. Some died on their way to another hospital.” TV reports showed survivors being brought out wrapped in blankets, and firefighters picking their way through the blackened shell of the building after the blaze was extinguished.
Pictures showed survivors being brought out wrapped in blankets, and firefighters picking their way through the blackened shell of the building after the blaze was extinguished. Friday’s blaze is expected to fuel criticism of South Korea’s safety standards and the state of its infrastructure, some of which was built rapidly as the country’s economy grew in the decades after the end of the 1950-53 Korean war.
Around 200 people were in the Sejong Hospital building when the fire broke out, police said. The fire came a month after 29 people were killed in an inferno at a fitness club in the South Korean city of Jecheon – a disaster blamed on insufficient emergency exits, flammable finishing materials and illegally parked cars blocking access to emergency vehicles.
The fire came only a month after 29 people were killed in an inferno at a fitness club in the South Korean city of Jecheon - a disaster blamed on insufficient emergency exits, flammable finishing materials and illegally parked cars blocking access to emergency vehicles. Moon called an emergency meeting with senior aides to discuss the response to the fire, according to Yonhap, and the country’s prime minister, Lee Nak-yon, ordered an investigation into the cause.
The worst fire in recent times was an arson attack on a subway station in the southeastern city of Daegu in 2003 that killed 192 people dead and injured 150 others. “There can be questions about how this amount of damage occurred in such a short period of time,” Yonhap quoted Lee saying during a visit to Miryang.
Referring to the Jecheon fire last month, he added: “We promised to make sure this kind of incident wouldn’t happen again, and I’m ashamed to have to say the same thing (today).”
A 2014 fire at a rural South Korean hospital for chronically ill elderly patients killed 21 people. In 2008, a warehouse fire outside Seoul left 40 people dead. The country’s worst fire in recent times was an arson attack on a subway station in the south-eastern city of Daegu in 2003 that killed 192 people and injured 150 others.
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