Around 500 people were evacuated from their homes on Friday after a fire broke out in Guryong Village, one of the last remaining slums in South Korea’s capital Seoul, according to fire officials.
In a televised briefing, Shin Yong-ho, an official with the Gangnam Fire Station, said the fire broke out in the fourth district of the village Shin said that about 60 homes are believed to have burned down, adding that most structures are made from vinyl plywood panels.
Videos on social media show the fire engulfing what looks like rows of homes, with huge plumes of thick black smoke hanging above the slum as sirens wail nearby.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was in Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum, has been notified of the fire and has ordered authorities to mobilise “all available personnel and equipment,” according to the presidential office.
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