The cause of the fire in the city of Miryang is not yet known
ADVERTISEMENTAt least 41 people are reported dead in an early-morning fire at a hospital in South Korea on Friday.
Most of those who died were on the first and second floor, a fire official told reporters.
It is thought to have started at around 7.30 a.m. in a first floor emergency room of the building in Miryang, 270 kilometres from Seoul. It is not yet known what caused the fire.
Elderly residents of an adjoining nursing home were also caught up in the blaze. Choi Man-woo, the head of Miryang city's fire station, told a press conference that the fire was brought under control within a few hours, adding that almost 200 people had been evacuated from the hospital and the nursing home directly behind it.
News channel YTN showed black smoke billowing from the windows and entrance to the hospital and flames flickering. Media footage showed at least one patient being carried from the hospital on another person's back, covered in blankets.
Dozens of people were injured.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in called an emergency meeting over the fire, the causes of which are not immediately known.
It comes just a month after 29 people died in a fire at a gym in the country.