Construction site fire in South Korea kills at least 38

 

Smoke rises from a warehouse which is currently under construction, after it caught fire, in Icheon, South Korea, April 29, 2020. Yonhap via REUTERS

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - A fire at a construction site in South Korea killed at least 38 people and injured another 10 on Wednesday, fire authorities said.

 

The fire broke out when workers were building a warehouse in the city of Icheon, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Seoul, they said.

 

They said "rapid combustion" occurred while workers were working on an underground level of the warehouse, adding that they are investigating the cause of the blaze.

 

A total of 410 people including 335 firefighters, were mobilised to respond to the accident.

 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in asked related ministries to do their utmost efforts for the search and rescue operation by mobilising all available resources, presidential blue house spokesman Kang Min-seok said.

 

The fire was extinguished five hours after it occurred at 1:32 pm, Yonhap News Agency said.

 

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Sangmi Cha; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-30

 

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God that sucks poor guys probably dident have a way out condolences to all affected 

I was once trapped behind a fire and had to climb down the steel girder framework of the building I was in to escape.

 

We had only recently been issued fire retardant overalls through which I received 2nd degree burns, my old cotton overalls would almost certainly have caught slight.

 

It is the most terrifying experience of my life.

 

Heartfelt condolences to all those who were caught in this tragedy. RIP the dead.

15 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I was once trapped behind a fire and had to climb down the steel girder framework of the building I was in to escape.

 

We had only recently been issued fire retardant overalls through which I received 2nd degree burns, my old cotton overalls would almost certainly have caught slight.

 

It is the most terrifying experience of my life.

 

Heartfelt condolences to all those who were caught in this tragedy. RIP the dead.

Sorry chomper I’ve had a few close calls over the years as well stay safe all

An even more dramatic photo from the BBC (UK):- RIP the poor victims.

 

Safety is the last area of concern in Korea. You got to have strong guts to walk on streets in Korea not to get heart attack for seeing the gut wrenching maneuver of moving furniture to high rise apartments and moving trucks with full load of LPG bottles.