Tuesday 18 February 2014

S Korea building collapse: At least nine dead, 10 trapped


At least nine people have died and 17 more have been seriously injured in a building collapse at a resort in South Korea.

At least 10 people are still trapped under the wreckage in the south-eastern city of Gyeongju.

Seven of those killed were students.

About 80 people received minor injuries, officials at the state-run National Emergency Management Agency said, when part of an auditorium fell in after heavy snowfall.

The structure failed during an orientation event for first-year university students from the southern city of Busan.

Fire services have blamed the weight of snow on the roof. The weather is also thought to have slowed rescue efforts.

Local media reports say the collapse happened at around 21:15 local time (12:15 GMT), though there is confusion over the number of students in the hall at the time.

A large number of students from Busan University of Foreign Studies were at the Mauna Ocean Resort, said an official, and many managed to get out of the damaged building by themselves.

The students are thought to have been attending a concert in the auditorium when the roof fell in.

"The ceiling came crashing down at the front near the stage," one student told South Korea's YTN news channel. "Then pandemonium broke out and everyone started rushing towards the exits, shouting and screaming," he added.

Gyeongju is a historic city that served as the capital of one of the Korean peninsula's ancient kingdoms, and is a popular tourist destination.

The area has experienced exceptionally heavy snowfall over the past week.

One of the world's worst peacetime building collapses happened in South Korea in June 1995, when Seoul's Sampoong Department Store collapsed, killing hundreds.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26231628

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