Blaze in South Korean hospital kills 41, more than 70 injured

Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SEOUL (Reuters): A fire in a South Korean hospital killed 41 people and injured more than 70, officials said on Friday, with eight of those injured listed as being in critical condition.

The fire is the deadliest in South Korea in at least a decade, according to the Yonhap news agency, and follows a fire last month which killed 29 people in a high rise sports centre.

The presidential Blue House put the hospital fire death toll at 41. President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting with top aides and called on the government to take “all necessary measures” to help survivors.The fire started at around 7.30 a.m. (2230 GMT) at the rear of the emergency room on the first floor of Sejong Hospital and was mostly extinguished after a few hours, Choi Man-woo, the head of Miryang city’s fire station, told a televised media briefing.

Miryang is about 270 km (170 miles) southeast of the capital, Seoul. Firefighters evacuated about 200 people from the main hospital building and nursing home directly behind the hospital, Choi said.