Arson fear in deadly S Korea fire

It may have been hard for victims to escape the warren of small rooms

Seven people have been killed and three were left in critical condition after a fire swept through a boarding house in South Korea.

The blaze broke out at about 0120 (1620 GMT) in the 10-storey building in Yongin city south of the capital Seoul.

A firefighter and police official said arson was suspected, as the fire seemed to have started in two separate places.

The victims may have found it difficult to escape from the building's maze of tiny rooms and narrow corridors.

They suffered smoke inhalation. Among them was a 27-year-old man who died while being treated in hospital.

Eight others who suffered minor injuries have been treated and allowed to return home.

Firefighters said it had taken them about 40 minutes to get Friday's blaze under control. They were unable to reach some of the victims trapped on the 10th floor - said to contain 63 small residential rooms.

"There were signs that the fire started in two different rooms, and those rooms are too distant to catch fire by the same cause," a police official said, according to local news agency Yonhap.

"Somebody may have set fire [to the rooms] one after the other."

He said an investigation was under way.

Small, cheap, rent-by-the-room guesthouses are common in Seoul's satellite towns - popular with students and those on low incomes.