S Korean hotel fire kills 7, matters made worse by lack of sprinklers

A fire that killed seven people in a South Korean hotel was possibly made worse by the lack of sprinklers, fire officials said Friday, as they investigated the cause of the blaze.

At least 12 people were being treated for injuries related to the fire that broke out Thursday evening at the nine-story property in the city of Bucheon, just west of the capital, Seoul.

Officials say the fire didn't spread broadly after starting in an unoccupied room on the 8th floor. But with the room was unprotected by sprinklers and toxic smoke quickly filled the upper floors. Most of the victims were found in the rooms and hallways of the eighth and ninth floors.

Lee Sang-don, an official with the Bucheon Fire Station, said the hotel, which was built in 2003, wasn't mandated to have a sprinkler system. While South Korea began requiring sprinklers on all buildings with more than six floors starting in 2017, the requirement wasn't retroactively applied to most older buildings, except for some medical ..