Death toll rises to 31 in South Korea's hospital fire

Thirty-one people were killed and more than 40 others injured in a blaze that engulfed a hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang early Friday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported firefighters as saying.

The fire is suspected to have started at around 7.30 am in the emergency room on the first floor of the main building of Sejong Hospital in the city, about 280 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the authorities. The fire was put out in one hour and 40 minutes.

About 100 patients are believed to have been inside the hospital building when the fire broke out.

The authorities had transferred 52 people, mostly patients, to four nearby hospitals.

Some 93 patients from the nursing home adjoined to the main building evacuated unhurt, they said.

The victims' identities were not immediately known.

-- BERNAMA