A huge fire tore through a South Korean hospital Friday killing at least 41 people, the government said, in the country’s worst blaze for 15 years. Heavy grey smoke rises into the air from a fire at a hospital building in Miryang, South Korea More than 80 others were hurt in the fire, which comes just weeks before thousands of athletes and foreign visitors are expected in the country for the Winter Olympics.Videos posted on social media showed a patient hanging on to a rope dangling from a helicopter above the hospital in Miryang, in the far south, and another crawling out of a window to climb down a ladder.The six-storey structure housed a nursing home as well as the hospital.The death toll rose rapidly throughout the morning, as those initially pulled from the blaze succumbed to their injuries.By lunchtime, it had hit 41, according to the presidential Blue House.”Two nurses said they had seen fire suddenly erupting in the emergency room,” said fire chief Choi Man-Woo.All the patients had been brought out, he said, adding that evacuating 15 sick people from the intensive care unit on the third floor took longer as firefighters had to wait for medical staff to supervise the process.All those who died were in the hospital, he said.”Many victims were from the first and second floors of the hospital… some died on their way to another hospital,” he said.Video footage and pictures showed the building engulfed by thick, dark smoke and surrounded by multiple fire… [Read full story]
A gunman has opened fire at a convenience store in South Korea, killing three people, local media say. The shooting happened around 08:00 (23:00GMT Tuesday) in Sejong city, an administrative hub 120km (75 miles) from Seoul. The suspect was later found dead in a nearby city. Police said he was the ex-boyfriend of the sister of one of the victims. Gun crime is extremely rare in South Korea. Most men have experience using a firearm because of compulsory military service but private gun ownership is banned. Only security personnel can carry guns, and hunters must keep their firearms at a…... [read more]
Vietnam and South Korea have common strategic interests in maintaining peace and stability for development, President Quang said, stressing the importance of organising high-level visits and meetings and implementing effective measures and policies to bolster the stable development of economic-trade ties. He applauded South Korea businesses’ stronger investment and participation in equitising State-owned enterprises and restructuring credit institutions in Vietnam.President Tran Dai Quang asked South Korea Government to create optimal conditions for Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery products to be exported to South Korea and to help the Southeast Asian nation be part of South Korea’s global supply chains.The host leader called on…... [read more]
SEOUL: A fire in a South Korea shopping mall killed four and injured more than 40 others, authorities said Sunday. Police suspect that sparks from a welding torch might have started the fire on Saturday in a kids' play area in the Metapolis mall in Dongtan, a commuter town south of Seoul. Two of the four who died were builders and the others were a mall worker and a shopper. Most of the 47 injured complained of smoke inhalation. The play area was closed at the time of the fire. Fire authorities urged builders to follow safety regulations, noting that…... [read more]
A South Korean man has allegedly strangled his Vietnamese wife to death in the east-southern province of Gyeongsangbuk-do, 300 kilometers away from Seoul, local media said Wednesday. According to Yonhap News agency and Yonhap News Television, the victim’s father-in-law discovered her body at around 6:30 am in her house on Wednesday and reported the case to local police. The 28-year old woman, whose name was not revealed, was strangled to death, police said. Her 42-year old husband, who was arrested by police later, admitted to having used his hands to strangle her to death. The couple got married in 2006.…... [read more]
A Vietnamese bride is suspected to have been killed after South Korean police found her body in a valley in the southwestern province of Chollanam-do on Tuesday. Do Thi My Tien, a 27-year-old woman, left Vietnam for Korea in 2004 after marrying a South Korean man, a correspondent of the Vietnam News Agency in South Korea cited a source from the Vietnamese community in the province as saying. The woman, who was born in the southern Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh, obtained South Korean nationality and had an 8-year-old boy, the source said. It is believed that the woman was…... [read more]
