MIRYANG (SOUTH KOREA) • Distraught relatives of those killed in a deadly South Korean hospital fire have voiced anger at what they perceived as another man-made disaster in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The huge blaze that erupted at the hospital in the south-eastern city of Miryang on Friday killed at least 37 people, comprising 34 patients and three medical staff, in the country's worst fire disaster in a decade.

The fire came a month after 29 people were killed in an inferno at a fitness club in Jecheon, a disaster blamed on insufficient emergency exits, flammable finishing materials and illegally parked cars blocking access for emergency vehicles.

Scenes of despair and anger unfurled at a city gymnasium where a joint memorial altar was set up yesterday for the 37 victims, with anguished relatives sobbing uncontrollably and screaming at government officials who came to pay their respects.

"My poor mother can never come back no matter what you say!" a young woman shouted at visiting officials in front of the altar bearing a row of portraits of the victims.

One mourner even shouted at a group of conservative lawmakers: "Did you guys not oppose reforming the fire code rules? Then why are you here?"

A middle-aged woman blamed herself for her mother's death.

"Her whole body was covered with soot and her face was burned... it's all my fault. I took her there for a medical check-up."

The tragedy has rattled residents of Miryang as a shortage of space at funeral homes forced many relatives to take the bodies of their loved ones to nearby cities.

President Moon Jae In visited the altar yesterday to console grieving relatives and promised to improve safety regulations after inspecting the gutted hospital.

"I feel so devastated that a disaster like this keeps happening although the government has promised repeatedly to build a safe country," he said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. But the hospital did not have any fire sprinkler or smoke-control systems as it was not large enough to be required to install them under local safety rules.

"I would have never sent my mother to this hospital had I known there were no fire sprinkler or smoke-control systems," said a relative of one of the victims, who wanted to be known only as Kim.

"Of all the places in the world, can you imagine a hospital without fire sprinklers?"

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE