21 People Perish In South Korean Hospital Fire Believed To Be Started By 81-Year-Old
South Korean police on Wednesday detained an 81-year-old man as an arson suspect after an early morning fire ripped through a hospice for the elderly in the south of the country, killing at least 21 people.
By Sadho Ram — 28 May 2014, 03:04 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
A fire at a South Korean hospital for chronically ill elderly patients killed 21 people and injured eight as the country continues to mourn victims of Sewol ferry disaster
Officials confirmed 21 were killed after being suffocated by poisonous gas which filled the hospital where patients are treated for dementia and palsy
Image via dailymail.co.ukAt least 21 people have died in a fire at hospital for the elderly in southwestern South Korea, the National Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.
cnn.comThe blaze early on Wednesday at the hospital in the south-western region of Jeolla was put out relatively quickly but most of the victims were elderly patients unable to walk or move freely, leading to the large number of casualties, fire officials said.
theguardian.com
A nurse, who was on duty at the time, died as she tried to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher
Jangseong Fire Department officials said 20 patients and one nurse were killed and that seven people were injured, adding that the victims suffocated. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.
Kim Jeong-bae, one of the firefighters who entered the building, said none of the bodies that he and his colleagues retrieved were burned and that they apparently were already dead when firefighters entered the hospital while it was engulfed in black smoke.
therakyatpost.com
There were 34 patients and a nurse on duty on the second floor of an annex of Hyosarang Hospital when the fire broke out, officials said. More than 270 fire officers put the fire out after about six minutes, the officials said.
Most of those who died are thought to have been in their 70s and 80s, and confined to their beds
Officials said most of the people who died suffocated because of toxic fumes. Agencies report that many patients on an upper floor of the building were unable to evacuate as their rooms were filled with smoke from the fire.
Lee Hyung-Seok, chief administrator of the Jangseong hospice, knelt and touched his forehead to the ground in a display of contrition
Officials kneeled and bowed in apology outside the hospice hours after the incident
Image via bbcimg.co.ukA director of the hospice, Lee Hyung-seok, apologised and told reporters: "I've committed a grave sin... There is no excuse when valuable lives were sacrificed."
thestar.com.my"I'm sorry. I apologise for this terrible thing," Lee said.
PHOTO: Officials surveying the damage caused by the blaze at Hyosarang Hospital
South Korean media earlier had reported some of the dead had their hands bound to their beds without citing any source. Officials later said that report was inaccurate.
Kim, the fire officer, said all the dead bodies he saw were found on beds or on the floor but none of them had their hands bound. He said the second-floor windows are barred. Two hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media, also said that patients were not bound to beds.
The fire comes as South Korea debates long-ignored safety lapses and a history of corner-cutting in a country that rapidly rose from poverty and the destruction of the 1950-53 Korean War to become Asia’s fourth biggest economy.
bloomberg.comAn 81-year-old patient suffering from dimentia, suspected of setting the blaze, is under investigation
Rescue workers help victims at Hyosarang hospital in Jangseong County, South Jeolla Province, on May 28, 2014.
Image via bloomberg.comAn 81-year-old patient is under investigation, police officer Lee Soon Jae said by phone, citing closed-circuit television footage at the Hyosarang hospital for the elderly in Jangseong, about 280 kilometers (170 miles) south of Seoul. The fire broke out at 12:27 a.m. local time and was extinguished within 30 minutes, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration said on its website.
bloomberg.com