Numerous people have had to be evacuated after a fire pennyless out in a shanty town in South Korea’s capital, Seoul.
Approximately 60 homes are usually reported to have already been destroyed in Fri morning’s blaze in Guryong Village.
There were no reports of deaths or accidents.
South Korean media has described the area of closely packed makeshift homes as the capital’s last remaining slum.
It took more than 900 medical personnel and several helicopters five hours to put out the blaze.
Reuters
“Right after I opened up the door, I saw a pillar of fire rising from one aspect, ” one 72-year-old resident told Reuters. “It looks really serious and I shouldn’t escape alone. So , I actually banged on the doorways and shouted ‘Fire! ‘ And people was released and screamed. It had been chaotic. ”
Chief executive Yoon Suk-yeol called for all-out efforts in order to minimise the damage and mobilise all obtainable firefighters and devices, according to his spokeswoman. Mr Yoon happens to be in Switzerland for the World Economic Community forum summit at Davos.
The exact cause of the blaze is still not known, but the area is prone to fires and floods, with many houses built using cardboard and wood. According to the Korea Times, Guryong Village has suffered a minimum of 16 fires considering that 2009.
Reuters
It was formed within the 1980s by people evicted from their primary neighbourhoods by redevelopment projects under the army government of the time, yet efforts to develop the area have been frustrated by disagreements between local governing bodies and inhabitants.
Guryong Town is on the advantage of the affluent Gangnam district, which has some of the country’s most expensive real-estate.
