Iran Sympathizes with South Korea over Deadly Blaze in Hospital

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi expressed “deep sorrow” over a fire in a South Korean hospital that killed 41 people and injured more than 70 others.

News ID: 68296

Date: 26 January 2018 - 19:20

In a statement released on Friday, Qassemi offered his condolences to the South Korean people and government over the tragic incident.

The fire in the South Korean hospital killed 41 people and injured more than 70, officials said on Friday, with eight of those injured listed as being in critical condition.

The fire is the deadliest in South Korea in at least a decade and follows a fire last month which killed 29 people in a high rise sports center, Reuters reported.

The presidential Blue House put the hospital fire death toll at 41. President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting with top aides and called on the government to take “all necessary measures” to help survivors.

The fire started at around 7.30 a.m. (2230 GMT) at the rear of the emergency room on the first floor of Sejong Hospital and was mostly extinguished after a few hours, Choi Man-woo, the head of Miryang city’s fire station, told a televised media briefing.

Miryang is about 270 km (170 miles) southeast of the capital, Seoul.

Firefighters evacuated about 200 people from the main hospital building and nursing home directly behind the hospital, Choi said.

Media footage showed at least one patient being carried from the hospital on another person’s back, covered in blankets.

Eight people were listed as critically injured and 69 slightly injured by 0153 GMT. Most of those who died were on the first and second floors of the hospital, Choi said.

There were no deaths from burns, he said, and officials were investigating the reason for the blaze.