Dozens of people are dead after fire swept through a hospital in Miryang, South Korea, one of the country's deadliest fires in many years.

This happened at Sejong Hospital, about 270 kilometers southeast of the capital Seoul.  The building also contained a nursing home.

The South Korean government says at least 41 people are dead and 80 to 100 are injuried, at least 13 of them in a critical condition.  The Yonhap news agency says 93 patients from the nursing home were safely evacuated.  Almost all of the victims are believed to have died from smoke inhalation, which fits with the photos and video from the scene whick shows think, acrid smoke coming from the building.

"The victims came both from the hospital and the nursing home. Some died on their way to another hospital," said fire chief Choi Man-woo.  He says the cause was not immediately known, but "two nurses said they had seen fire suddenly erupting in the emergency room".

The fire came only a month after fire tore through a fitness club in Jecheon City, killing 29 people.  The worst fire in recent years happened in 2003, when an arson attack on a subway station in the southeastern city of Daegu.