Minimum 33 people have been killed in a blaze at a hospital at Miryang, in South Korea on Friday, with more than 70 injured and eight of those injured listed as being in critical condition and the toll is expected to rise.
The fire is thought to have started in the emergency room at Sejong Hospital, which specialises in cardiology. The six storey structure houses a nursing home as well as the hospital.
Video footage and pictures showed a helicopter flying above the building in Miryang, engulfed by heavy grey smoke and surrounded by multiple fire trucks.
Reports say around 200 patients were inside the building and adjoining nursing home at the time many were safely evacuated.
Fire fighters told that the victims appeared to have died from smoke inhalation. Several of the injured people were reported to be in a critical condition.
“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.
Mr Choi said the fire started around 07:30am local time and was put out in about three hours. “The victims came both from the hospital and the nursing home. Some died on their way to another hospital,” he added.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in arranged an emergency meeting to discuss ways of dealing with the fire. The fire comes just a month after 29 people in the South Korean city of Jecheon were killed in a blaze at a public gym.
>Juthy Saha
