E-Paper
Twelve Chinese dead in S Korean fire: official media
Twelve Chinese citizens died in a fire at a South Korean warehouse, state-run media reported on Tuesday.
Twelve Chinese citizens died in a fire at a South Korean warehouse, state-run media reported on Tuesday.
Forty people were killed and 10 others were injured in Monday's blaze at a refrigerated warehouse in Icheon, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Seoul,
according to previous South Korean media reports.
Twelve Chinese were killed in the fire, while one other suffered severe injuries and was in a critical condition in hospital, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, citing Chinese embassy officials in Seoul.
South Korean television reports earlier reported that some of the dead were ethnic Koreans from China.
The fire apparently started mid-morning in the warehouse basement, where workers were using flammable materials, according to South Korean reports.
Witnesses said there were explosions from the basement of the cold storage facility, which had been under construction, before the fire broke out.
At the time of the fire, 57 people were working in the warehouse, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
