SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A fire swept through a nursing home during the night, killing nine elderly people, police said Wedneday.
Eleven nursing home patients were sleeping when the fire, suspected to have been touched off by an electrical short circuit, broke out at Kum-mae Welfare Center in Seocheon in central South Korea shortly before midnight Tuesday, police said.
Two patients were rescued but nine others were burned to death or suffocated in the one-hour fire, said Lt. Lee Heon-soo, an official at Seocheon Police Station.
Those killed ranged in age from 61 to 93, he said. At least some of the patients in the home suffered from Alzheimer's and other mental disorders.
In Seoul, a fire at the Crown Hotel broke out in a third-floor room and spread upstairs, forcing about 200 people to flee, police said.
At least 15 people, including six Japanese, one American and one Indian, were injured as they tried to rush down stairs or escape through windows, they said.
The fire was brought under control in 30 minutes, police said. The cause was under investigation.
