A fire at a hospice for the elderly in Jangseong, South Korea, killed 21 people on Wednesday.
The firefighters put out the fire in 30 minutes, but many elderly, bedridden patients on the second floor of the hospice couldn’t escape in time and died of smoke inhalation, a fire official told AFP. TV news reports said that in addition to the 20 elderly patients who perished in the blaze, one nurse at the facility is also among the dead. AFP also reported that seven people were injured in the accident and that six of them are in critical condition.
It is believed that the fire was sparked by welding work at an underground restaurant, the AFP article said.
The patients at the hospice, located in a county about 200 miles south of Seoul, included stroke victims and those with Alzheimer’s. The Associated Press reported the name of the hospice as Hyosarang Hospital.
“I’m sorry. I apologize for this terrible thing,” Lee Hyung-Seok, chief administrator of the hospice, said, according to AFP.
The fire is the latest in a string of traumatic incidents that has shaken the nation since the April 16 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. It also comes two days after a fire at a bus terminal near the capital of Seoul that killed seven and injured 41. Earlier this month, around 170 were injured in Seoul after two subway cars collided in Seoul.
The ferry disaster appears to have been caused by an overloaded ship and lax enforcement of maritime regulations. The incident, which took the lives of hundreds of high school students on a field trip to Jeju island, prompted national mourning and introspection, as well as fueled passionate debate about national reform and enforcing public safety standards.
