37 die in Korea hospital blaze

FIRE swept through a hospital in South Korea, killing 37 people, many of them elderly, and injuring more than 140.

Officials believe the country’s deadliest blaze in about a decade started in the emergency room of Sejong Hospital in the south-eastern city of Miryang.

Police said 34 of the dead were women and 26 were over 80.

The hospital specialises in caring for the elderly. About 200 patients were inside the hospital and an adjoining nursing home at the time.

Most of the victims were on the first and second floors of the six-storey general ward, where the emergency department and intensive care unit were located.

Firemen used ladders to enter upper windows. Some carried patients on their backs to other rescuers below.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. The hospital said it did not have sprinklers because they were not required by law.