At least 15 people were killed in a blaze at a hospital in South Korea on January 26, authorities said, with 11 more critically injured. / AFP PHOTO / YONHAP /
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korea’s rapid transformation from a war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a flourishing democracy is a source of great national pride.
But a series of preventable disasters — the latest being the hospital fire that killed at least 37 people on Friday — has shaken public confidence in the foundations of the country’s development.
Many South Koreans have questioned whether safety standards were sidelined and regulations ignored in the rush for development, with the long toll of accidents leaving a legacy of bitterness and mistrust.
These are some of South Korea’s worst accidents of the last 25 years:
Explosions and collapses
October 21, 1994: The Songsu Bridge in Seoul collapses under the weight of rush-hour traffic, plunging dozens of vehicles into the Han River and killing 32 people.
April 28, 1995: A gas explosion at a construction site in Daegu kills more than 100 workers and passers-by.
June 29, 1995: Seoul’s Sampoong Department Store collapses in the worst peacetime disaster in South Korean history, with more than 500 shoppers crushed to death and another 900 injured.
February 17, 2014: At least 10 people are killed and more than 100 injured when an auditorium packed with students collapses — apparently under the weight of heavy snow — at a resort near the southern city of Gyeongju.
Deadly fires
February 18, 2003: 192 people are killed in a subway fire in Daegu, which quickly spread to all six coaches of the train. The fire was arson by a mentally-ill man but exposed numerous safety lapses.
January 7, 2008: 40 die in a blaze at a warehouse in Icheon.
November 14, 2009: 15 people, including 10 Japanese tourists, die in a fire at a target-shooting range practice room.
May 28, 2014: 21 die and eight others are injured in an arson attack at a nursing hospital in Jangseong county by a patient suffering from dementia.
December 21, 2017: 29 people are killed in an inferno at a fitness club in the city of Jecheon in a disaster blamed on insufficient emergency exits, flammable finishing materials and illegally-parked cars blocking access to emergency vehicles.
Ferry disaster
April 16, 2014: In one of South Korea’s worst ever maritime disasters, the 6,800-tonne Sewol ferry sinks off the country’s southwestern coast, claiming 304 lives — mostly high school students on an excursion.
Investigations concluded the disaster was the result of numerous human factors, including an illegal redesign, an overloaded cargo bay and inexperienced crew. (Agence France-Presse)
