A South Korean man set his apartment on fire before stabbing fleeing residents with a knife, killing five people and injuring 13 others.

The 42-year-old set fire to his apartment in the south-eastern city of Jinju, about 435 kilometres southeast of Seoul, at around 4:29am local time (1930 GMT Tuesday).

He then attacked residents as they attempted to flee the building, news agency Yonhap reported on Wednesday citing local police.

Five people, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed in the building’s stairwell, Yonhap added.

According to witnesses, he shouted “fire” to force neighbours out of their apartments.

The man, who was arrested at the scene after a brief confrontation with police, reportedly said he “committed the crimes out of grievances about his overdue wages”.

The fire was extinguished 20 minutes later.

Korea Times reported that the man is said to be a recipient of government support for the underprivileged.

The death toll could increase, according to the police, as some of the injured were in critical condition. </s> SEOUL (DPA) - A South Korean man set his apartment on fire before stabbing fleeing residents with a knife, killing five people and injuring 13 others, local media reported Wednesday (April 17).

The 42-year-old set fire to his apartment in the south-eastern city of Jinju before attacking residents as they attempted to flee the building, news agency Yonhap reported, citing local police.

Five people, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed in the building's stairwell, Yonhap added.

The man, who was arrested at the scene after a brief confrontation with police, reportedly said he "committed the crimes out of grievances about his overdue wages." The fire was extinguished 20 minutes later. </s> Five people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured by a South Korean man who set his apartment on fire and stabbed his neighbors as they tried to flee the flames, police said Wednesday.

Police said the 42-year-old started the fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the southern city of Jinju, and waited on the second floor of the building to attack people running downstairs from the blaze.

The youngest of the five victims stabbed to death was a 12-year-old girl.

An unnamed resident told Yonhap news agency that he initially tried to leave the building after hearing the fire alarm but went back to his apartment after seeing "lots of blood" in the hall.

"I heard he was holding knives in both hands," the neighbor said.

The arsonist, who was detained at the scene, told police he committed the crime to defend against "maligning forces." </s> JINJU, South Korea, April 16 (UPI) -- A man in Jinju, southeastern South Korea, set his apartment aflame on Wednesday and attacked fleeing residents with a knife, killing five people and injuring 13 others, police said.

The arson and murder suspect, identified only as a 42-year-old man, set fire to his apartment building in Jinju, about 435 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at around 4:29 a.m. before randomly stabbing residents coming out of their apartments to evacuate, police said.

Five residents, including a 12-year-old girl, were stabbed to death in the apartment stairway, and 13 others were injured, with three of them in critical condition, police said.

Other victims killed in the stabbing spree include a man in his 70s, two women in their 60s and one woman in her 30s. Eight of the injured suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to the hospital.

The suspect was detained on the scene at about 4:50 a.m. after a confrontation with police. During the confrontation, police officers fired blanks, bullets and tasers but the suspect was not hit.

He reportedly told police he committed the crimes out of grievances about his overdue wages.

Police said the suspect was not intoxicated at the time of the crime.

The fire was extinguished by firefighters about 20 minutes later.

The detention of the suspect came after a resident called a 112 police emergency line to report witnessing a man wielding a weapon against residents fleeing from the fire.

Police said the suspect, a jobless man, was refusing to make a statement after being transferred to a police station.

Police said they have secured testimonies from his neighbors and others that the suspect has a history of schizophrenia.

Police said they will conduct further investigation into the suspect's occupational and health records, as well as the motives for his crimes. </s> A 42-year-old man starts the fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the southern city of Jinju, waiting on the second floor of the building to attack people running downstairs from the blaze

SEOUL, South Korea – Five people were killed and more than a dozen others injured by a South Korean man who set his apartment on fire and stabbed his neighbors as they tried to flee the flames, police said Wednesday, April 17.

Police said the 42-year-old started the fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the southern city of Jinju, and waited on the second floor of the building to attack people running downstairs from the blaze.

The youngest of the 5 victims stabbed to death was a 12-year-old girl.

An unnamed resident told Yonhap news agency that he initially tried to leave the building after hearing the fire alarm but went back to his apartment after seeing "lots of blood" in the hall.

"I heard he was holding knives in both hands," the neighbor said.

The arsonist, who was detained at the scene, told police he committed the crime to defend against "maligning forces". – Rappler.com </s> The main suspect in the killing and arson spree at an apartment building in Jinju is escorted into a police station in the South Gyeongsang Province city, Wednesday. Yonhap





A window in the apartment was blackened in the fire that took 20 minutes to extinguish. Yonhap



By Oh Young-jin



The suspect in an early morning arson and killing spree Wednesday exhibited signs of schizophrenia, claiming his fatal attack was in self-defense against "forces that threatened me," police said at a briefing later in the day. He reportedly had a history of mental illness.



Five people were killed and 13 injured in the arson and stabbing attack at an apartment complex in Jinju.



Police said that four of the dead were women including a 12-year-old girl and her grandmother. A blind high school senior was also a victim. Some of the injured were listed in a critical condition so the death toll could rise. Seven others were victims of smoke inhalation.



The suspect, identified by his surname An, 42, was apprehended at the scene.





The arson and murder suspect, identified as An, being escorted by police officers. Yonhap



"The suspect kept changing his story and it didn't make any sense," a spokesman for Jinju, South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency told reporters. "He admitted to the arson and killing but refused to disclose what motivated his killing."



An sprayed gasoline in his living room and set it alight at 4:25 a.m., police said. He then shouted "fire," flushing people out of their apartments and ambushing them on the emergency stairs with two "lethal tools," a police term for knives. Officers confronted him in the hall and fired blank and live ammunition before subduing him with a Taser.



An had initially told police he was angry over back pay. But police said it was confirmed he was working as a day laborer and was not owed wages.





The murder suspect is caught on CCTV throwing liquid on the door of an upstairs neighbor he had quarreled with earlier. Yonhap



An is said to be on government support for the underprivileged. He has been living alone in the apartment since 2015.



He is being questioned about the motive for his alleged rampage. Two police experts in crime profiling have been assigned to the case with 30 investigators.



Police said An had at least five run-ins with neighbors. He was once caught on CCTV spraying soy sauce and vinegar on the door of people living upstairs over noise complaints.



Some local media outlets reported that An had uploaded a posting on a portal site in 2013 that showed his resentment of children. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea begins salvaging ferry that sank in 2014, killing more than 300 people. </s> SEOUL, South Korea -- A fire swept through a hospital in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country's most deadly fires in recent years. The fire at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 81, 14 of them in critical condition, the state-run National Fire Agency said. Agency officials said the death toll could increase.

Details of the fire including its cause were unknown. But local Miryang fire officials said they put out the blaze at 10:26 a.m., nearly three hours after it started at the first-floor emergency room of the hospital.

A National Fire Agency official said many of the deaths were confirmed after the victims were taken to nearby hospitals while being put on artificial ventilators. But he said he has no further details including the identification of the dead. The official spoke on condition of anonymity saying he wasn't authorized to speak to media.

A total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out, Miryang fire official Choi Choi Man-wu said in an earlier televised briefing.

The victims came both from the hospital and the nursing home. Some died on their way to another hospital, BBC News reports.

Sejong Hospital offers regular medical services and has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff, according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who long-term doctors' care.

BBC News writes that South Korean President Moon Jae-in held an emergency meeting to discuss ways of dealing with the fire, said spokesman Cheong Wa Dae.

He ordered officials to provide necessary medical supports to those rescued, find the exact cause of the fire and work out measures to prevent future fires, according to his spokesman Park Su-hyun.

Miryang is about 168 miles (270 km) from the capital, Seoul.

Several recent fires in South Korea have been deadly.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a building fire in central Seoul, which was the country's deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire. Last weekend, a fire at a Seoul motel killed six people, and police arrested a man who allegedly set it ablaze in anger because he had been denied a room for being heavily drunk.

In 2014, a fire set by an 81-year-old dementia patient killed 21 at another hospital for the elderly. </s> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire swept through a hospital in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country’s most deadly fires in recent years.

Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the fire at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of them in critical condition.

The fire started from the first floor of the hospital at 7:35 a.m. and was extinguished at 10:26 a.m., Choi said. The cause of the fire is under investigation

He said a total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out.

Sejong Hospital has a nursing hospital for the elderly and also offers regular medical services.

South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who long-term doctors’ care.

Yonhap news agency says the hospital has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a fire that tore through an eight-floor building in the city of Jecheon in central Seoul. It was the country’s deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire.

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Subsequent riots in Seoul kill at least three people.