[Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Aju News) -- South Korea on Monday proposed a special safety inspection of 290,000 public facilities, including hospitals, which are considered vulnerable to disasters, after nearly 70 people were killed in two deadly fires in a month.
The proposal came at a meeting of top policymakers from the government, the office of President Moon Jae-in and his ruling Democratic Party, as the death toll rose to 39 in the blaze last week at a hospital specializing in senior patients in Milyang, some 280 kilometers (173 miles) southeast of Seoul.
An 86-year-old woman who had suffered from asthma and Alzheimer, died in hospital on late Sunday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 39. The fire left 151 others injured, and many victims suffocated after inhaling toxic fumes.
An initial investigation showed that the fire appeared to have started from the ceiling of a pantry room used by medical staff as a changing room, next to the first-floor emergency room of the six-story Sejong hospital. The first floor was burned down, but the upper floors showed slight burns.
The hospital, which treats senior citizens and ordinary patients together, has an adjacent building housing long-stay senior patients for domiciliary care. Firefighters said many patients in hospital wards had been under intensive care or too old to move around.
Investigators said short circuits or faulty wiring in the ceiling of the first floor could be the cause of the disaster that fueled public anxiety about fire-prevention and other safety facilities in small hospitals and public places.
On December 21 last year, 29 people died in a fire that gutted an eight-story sports and leisure building in Jecheon, about 115 kilometers (71 miles) southeast of Seoul. Firefighters said many victims were suffocated by toxic smoke from inflammable materials used for the building's interior and exterior.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
