Bus collided with truck
37 injured and five dead after tunnel fire in South Korea
A huge fire has broken out in the South Korean city of Gwacheon. After a collision, a motorway tunnel caught fire and at least five people died.
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Meter-high columns of smoke rise from a highway bridge in South Korea’s Gwacheon.
A fire following an accident in a highway tunnel in South Korea has killed at least five people and injured dozens. A bus collided with a truck in the tunnel in Gwacheon on the outskirts of the capital Seoul on Thursday, a spokesman for the fire department said. After the accident, a fire spread in the tunnel, which is designed to protect surrounding residential areas from traffic noise.
Large flames and plumes of smoke could be seen in images from South Korean media. Hundreds of firefighters finally got the fire under control, the fire department spokesman said. “We are looking for other victims in the tunnel,” the officer added. 37 people were injured and needed treatment for smoke inhalation and burns.
Security precautions have been debated in South Korea since a mass panic at Halloween celebrations in Seoul that killed more than 150 people. On the evening of October 29, around 100,000 mostly young people crowded the narrow streets of the Itaewon nightlife district without police intervention. It later turned out that only 137 police officers were on duty – and that emergency calls had been received by the police hours before the disaster. (AFP/chs)