A major fire broke out in a nursing hospital in Gimpo, west of Seoul, on Tuesday, leaving two dead and 47 injured, reported a South Korean news agency. According to the Gyeonggi Fire Services, the fire broke out around 9.00 a.m. local time in the five-story building. The deceased include a 90-year-old woman and there were 130 elderly patients at the time of the accident. At least 47 others suffered from the effects of smoke inhalation and six people are in critical condition. Reportedly, the nursing home occupies the third and fourth floor of the building.

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The fire started in boiler room

According to an official at Gimpo Fire station, the smoke from the fire, which is believed to have broken out in a boiler room of the fourth floor of the building, appears to have come directly into patients’ room, quoted the Korean news agency. The cause of heavy casualties lies behind the fact that the smoke also entered an intensive care unit (ICU) directly which led to the death of two patients of ICU. All the patients have been evacuated from the hospital. All the injured are undergoing medical treatment at 11 different nearby hospitals. 

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Last year's massive hospital fire

In January last year, a massive fire had broken out in another South Korean hospital in Miryang city which claimed lives of at least 41 people. The six-storey building housed a hospital and a nursing home and at least 200 people were inside the hospital when the fire broke out. Videos on social media showed patients climbing down the ladder through the hospital’s window. All the victims of the incident were from the hospital.

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The survivors were evacuated from the building with a blanket wrapped around them. Evacuating the patients from the ICU was an intense process as firefighters had to wait for the medical staff to supervise the process. The fire incident of Miryang was the worst fire disaster since 2003 when a deliberate attack on a subway station had killed 192 people in the southeastern city of Daegu. South Korean President Moon Jae-in had called an emergency meeting and demanded an immediate probe.

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(Inputs from Agencies)