SKorea prosecutors indict 12 over deadly hospital fire

South Korean prosecutors have indicted 12 people over a devastating hospital fire that left 50 dead and more than 100 injured in January, Yonhap news agency reported today.

Fire ripped through the Sejong hospital in the southeast city of Miryang on January 26, sending toxic fumes sweeping through the six-storey building in South Korea's worst fire disaster since 2003.

Those indicted include hospital executives and government officials who were directly or indirectly responsible for the blaze, prosecutors said, according to Yonhap.

The hospital had not undergone a full inspection of its wiring in 26 years, the prosecutors said.

Preliminary inspections after the disaster had suggested possible defects in wiring in the ceiling of what used to be an office pantry.

The hospital had 95 beds but no sprinkler system as it was not large enough to be required to do so under fire-prevention regulations.

While South Korea has risen to become the world's 11th-largest economy, some of its infrastructure was built rapidly and it has a history of preventable disasters.