South Korea hospital fire kills at least 37 people

Updated

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Patients escape major blaze that killed dozens at a hospital in South Korea (ABC News)

At least 37 people have been killed and more than 125 injured in a fire at a hospital in South Korea which mostly cares for elderly people. Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the blaze at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of whom are in a critical condition. Ten of the injured are in critical condition, medical official Cheon Jae-kyung said in the same televised briefing, suggesting the death toll could increase. He said police may be able to announce the cause of the fire on Saturday. Key points: Fire at Sejong Hospital believed to have started in a first-floor emergency room

More than 190 patients were in the hospital when the blaze broke out

The cause of the fire is not known

The blaze broke out at the Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang, about 270 kilometres south-east of Seoul, around 7.30am (local time). A total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out, Miryang fire official Choi Choi Man-wu said in an earlier televised briefing. Sejong Hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang has a separate nursing ward where 94 elderly patients were being treated, but all of them were safely evacuated, fire officials said. Sejong Hospital offers regular medical services and has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff, according to Yonhap news agency. South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who need long-term doctors' care. BBC News writes that South Korean President Moon Jae-in held an emergency meeting to discuss ways of dealing with the fire, said spokesman Cheong Wa Dae. Several recent fires in South Korea have been deadly. In other recent fires, 29 people were killed in late December in a building in central South Korea, which was the country's deadliest blaze in the past decade before the hospital fire. Last weekend, a fire at a Seoul motel killed six people, and police arrested a man who allegedly set it ablaze in anger because he had been denied a room for being heavily drunk. In 2014, a fire set by an 81-year-old dementia patient killed 21 people at a hospital for the elderly.
A fire breaks out in a hospital in Miryang, South Korea, killing at least 37 people and injuring over 130 others.