Seoul

At least seven people were killed after a fire broke out at a mall in South Korea’s Daejeon city on Monday.

Advertisment

According to reports, the blaze started around 7.45 am (local time) in the basement and then quickly spread to the whole area.

More than 110 people, including mall employees and customers at a nearby hotel, were quickly evacuated from the area.

Firefighters were continuing to search for survivors after putting out the blaze, said Go Seung-cheol, an official at the Daejeon Fire Headquarters. He said it wasn’t immediately clear if there were people still missing and that smoke remained in some parts of the building.

Advertisment

The officials believe that the fire may have caused more damage had it started during the mall’s business hours.

×

It took more than 8 hours and over 500 firefighters to contain the fire, which was extinguished at around 3 pm (local time).

Advertisment

Videos and photos from the scene showed a dark-grey plume of smoke billowing out of the basement of the building while firefighters try to contain the fire.

Photos from the scene showed a cloud of dark-grey smoke emerging from beneath the building as firefighters used water hoses and other equipment to put out the blaze.

At the time of reporting, firefighters were trying to search for more survivors after dousing out the blaze, Go Seung-cheol, an official at the Daejeon Fire Headquarters, told AP news agency.

It is unclear whether there are people still missing inside the mall, the official said.

Though authorities are yet to determine the cause of the fire, local media citing eyewitness reported that the blaze may have been caused by an explosion of an electric vehicle that was being charged in the basement.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: