Families voice anger over deadly South Korea hospital fire

MIRYANG, South Korea: Distraught relatives of those killed in a deadly South Korean hospital fire voiced anger on Saturday at what they perceived as another man-made disaster in Asia’s fourth largest economy, just as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics.

The huge blaze that erupted at the hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang on Friday killed at least 37 people including 34 patients -- mostly elderly women -- and three medical staff in the country’s worst fire disaster in a decade.

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 finishing materials and illegally parked cars blocking access for emergency vehicles.

Scenes of despair and anger unfurled at a city gymnasium where a joint memorial altar was set up on Saturday for the 37 victims, with anguished relatives sobbing uncontrollably and screaming at government officials who came to pay their respects.

"My mother! Bring my mother back to life!" a young woman cried in front of the altar bearing a row of portraits of the victims and their name plaques surrounded by hundreds of white chrysanthemums. "My poor mother can never come back no matter what you say!" she shouted at visiting officials before collapsing on the floor.

President Moon Jae-In visited the altar to console grieving relatives and promised to improve safety regulations after inspecting the gutted hospital.

"I feel so devastated that a disaster like this keeps happening although the government has promised repeatedly to build a safe country," Moon said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. But the hospital did not have any fire sprinkler or smoke-control-systems as it was not large enough to be required to install them under local safety rules.

"I would have never sent my mother to this hospital had I known there was no fire sprinkler or smoke-control systems," said a relative of one of the victims, who only gave his family name, Kim.