{"id":57493,"date":"2018-01-27T06:14:51","date_gmt":"2018-01-27T06:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=57493"},"modified":"2018-01-27T06:14:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T06:14:51","slug":"south-koreas-moon-visits-hospital-fire-scene-agonizes-over-series-of-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/south-koreas-moon-visits-hospital-fire-scene-agonizes-over-series-of-disasters.html","title":{"rendered":"South Korea’s Moon visits hospital fire scene, agonizes over series of disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea’s Moon visits hospital fire scene, agonizes over series of disasters<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

South Korean officials rushed to identify 37 victims of a hospital blaze and pinpoint the cause on Saturday as President Moon Jae-in visited the burnt-out building and decried \u201cone tragedy after another\u201d to strike the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flames and toxic smoke swept through the Sejong Hospital in the southern city of Miryang on Friday, injuring more than 150 people, just weeks after a fire killed 29 people at a fitness center. All the hospital victims died from smoke inhalation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moon visited the fire scene where he spoke to grieving family members and firefighters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIts tragic, and it hurts me to see this kind of one tragedy after another, even as the government has vowed to make this country safe,\u201d Moon said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He ordered a full inquiry and said \u201cutmost government efforts\u201d were needed to support the injured and families of the victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

The government of Asia\u2019s fourth-largest economy, with one of the world\u2019s fastest ageing populations, has faced criticism in recent years over poor safety standards, including the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 in which more than 300 people, mostly school children, drowned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hospital director Song Byeong-cheol said the six-storey hospital did not have a sprinkler system and was not large enough to require one under the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposition Liberal Party was quick to condemn Moon for the disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Moon administration should have at least kept South Koreans safe, to justify the launch of this government,\u201d the party said in a statement, demanding a \u201cmaster plan\u201d to protect citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moon\u2019s ruling Democratic Party said it would \u201cembark on parliamentary discussions to legally support and protect citizens lives and safety\u201d, a spokesman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ham Eun-gu, a professor at Open Cyber University of Korea, said safety checks at many private hospitals, including Sejong Hospital, were often carried out as a formality and not strictly enforced.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that there has been a string of big fire accidents, the Moon administration won\u2019t be able to just overlook this and let it go. (The government) will need to toughen fire safety regulations,\u201d Ham said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, 29 people were killed in a blaze at an eight-storey fitness center in Jecheon City, most of them women trapped in a sauna. That disaster fueled anger over reports of shoddy construction, among other shortcomings.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2014, a fire at a rural hospital killed 21 people, while a 2008 warehouse fire outside Seoul killed 40.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many survivors of Friday\u2019s blaze \u201cwalked though fire and smoke\u201d to escape, a city official told Reuters on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those on upper floors used fire engine ladders and plastic escape slides, while firefighters carried some who could not walk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw elderly patients scrambling out through the windows and had to help,\u201d said Woo Young-min, 25, as he stood in his pyjamas outside the hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fire broke out at the rear of the emergency room on the hospital\u2019s first floor, fire official Choi Man-woo told reporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Television broadcast images of black smoke billowing from the windows and entrance.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least 177 patients, most of them elderly, were in the hospital and a nursing home next door when the fire broke out, hospital director Song told reporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Song said three of the nine hospital staff on duty at the time died – at least one doctor, a nurse and a nurse\u2019s aide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of those who died were on the first and second floors, said Choi.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-southkorea-fire\/south-koreas-moon-visits-hospital-fire-scene-agonizes-over-series-of-disasters-idUSKBN1FF04N<\/span><\/p>\n

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