Defective wiring is suspected to have caused the South Korean hospital fire that killed dozens and injured more than 150, police said, as public anger swel
SEOUL – Defective wiring is suspected to have caused the South Korean hospital fire that killed dozens and injured more than 150, police said, as public anger swelled over the country’s worst fire disaster in a decade.
The huge blaze, which erupted at the hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang on Friday, killed at least 38 people, including 35 patients — mostly elderly women — and three medical staffers.
The fire came only a month after 29 people were killed in an inferno at a fitness club in Jecheon, a disaster blamed on insufficient emergency exits, flammable building materials and illegally parked cars blocking access for emergency vehicles.
Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the hospital fire, but preliminary on-site inspection has suggested possible defects in the wiring in the first-floor ceiling of what used to be an office pantry.
“There were no traces of burns on the floor, but clear signs of fire spreading toward the bottom from the top,” an official told a joint new briefing on Saturday evening.
