Death toll climbs after building collapses in South Korea

9 June 2021, 17:24

Firefighters search for survivors in a collapsed building in Gwangju, South Korea (Chung Hoi-sung/AP)
South Korea Building Collapse. Picture: PA

Debris fell on a bus when it stopped on a nearby street.

A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea collapsed, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board, officials said.

Concrete from the collapsed building in the southern city of Gwangju fell on the bus carrying 17 people which had stopped on a nearby street, the National Fire Agency said.

Emergency officers dispatched to the site rescued eight people from the bus, all seriously injured, before discovering the nine bodies, the agency said in a statement.

Fire officer Kim Seok-sun said in a televised briefing from the site that all workers at the building site had evacuated before its collapse.

He said some of the workers told investigators that they had closed a pedestrian walkway near the building before the collapse.

Firefighters at the scene (Chung Hoi-sung/AP)
Firefighters at the scene (Chung Hoi-sung/AP)

Fire agency officials said emergency officers were still searching for any other people who might be trapped under the debris.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

Mr Kim said the bus driver was among the injured.

Authorities did not immediately provide details of the other injured or dead people.

An earlier fire agency statement said the debris also fell on two passenger vehicles.

But agency officials later corrected that after watching security videos.

Local media showed the debris falling on the bus and engulfing the street in a huge cloud of dust.

A video after the collapse showed dozens of rescue workers equipped with stretchers and crowbars searching for survivors while excavators hacked at a huge mountain of crumbled concrete and bent steel beams spilling over the motorway.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

South Africa Bus Crash

Girl, 8, the sole survivor as 45 die in bus crash off South Africa bridge

A spokesman has denied reports the sausage dog could be banned.

The wurst news is over: Germany denies claims of sausage dog ban

Israel Palestinians Britain Aid

UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings into Gaza

Greece Confidence Vote

Greece’s government survives no-confidence motion called over rail disaster

Israel Palestinians UN Security Council

Russia ‘abolishes’ monitoring of sanctions on North Korea with UN veto

Firefighters at the scene of a bus crash in Limpopo

Bus falls from bridge in South Africa and erupts into flames, killing at least 45 and leaving child, 8, as lone survivor

Music-Green Day UN

Green Day to headline UN-backed global climate concert

Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX founder Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for crypto fraud

France Valentino

Former Gucci designer Alessandro Michele named Valentino creative director

Russia Shooting

Russia arrests another suspect in concert hall attack that killed 143

American Easter egg

White House’s annual Easter egg roll to be attended by 40,000 people

Barbers in Paris

Proposal to ban discrimination over a person’s hair passes first legal hurdle

Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian Authority names new government following pressure to reform

Arvind Kejriwal

Opposition leader Kejriwal locked up for further four days, court rules

Resident clears rubble from home

Russia wears down Ukrainian defences with missile and drone attacks

Pope Francis

Pope urges priests to avoid ‘clerical hypocrisy’ in Maundy Thursday speech