2 dead, 13 injured in apartment building fire in Seoul

Seoul, Aug 17 (IANS) Two people were killed and 13 others injured after a fire broke out in an apartment building in Seoul on Sunday, authorities said.

The blaze began on the 14th floor of the 20-story building in Seoul's western ward of Mapo at about 8.10 a.m., forcing 89 residents to evacuate. A woman in her 60s and her 20-something son died in the fire, Yonhap News Agency reported.

One person was seriously injured, while the rest sustained minor injuries.

The fire agency said it mobilised 252 personnel and 79 vehicles and extinguished the flames at 10.42 a.m. after receiving a report of black smoke from the building.

Fire sprinklers were not installed on the 14th floor where the fire started, according to the fire agency. It plans to investigate the exact cause of the fire.

On February 14 this year, six workers died and 25 others were injured in a fire at a hotel construction site in South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan, authorities said.

The fire started at the Banyan Tree hotel under construction at approximately 10.50 a.m., presumably from insulating material loaded near a swimming pool on the first floor of one of the three buildings on the site, according to the Busan firefighting headquarters.

The flames were mostly extinguished by around 1.30 p.m., firefighters said.

"When we arrived at the scene, black smoke had filled the interior of the building," Park Heung-mo, a rescue official with the Busan firefighting agency, said at a press briefing.

"The deceased were found at the location where the fire broke out, and it's presumed they weren't able to escape because there was a lot of flammable material near the exit," he said.

Firefighters rescued those trapped inside using helicopters, but six were later pronounced dead. 14 others were safely rescued from the roof, while more than a hundred workers were evacuated.

--IANS

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