Seven dead, dozens trapped in SKorea warehouse fire

ICHEON (South Korea): At least seven people were killed and nearly 30 trapped underground as fire raged in a South Korean warehouse, giving off thick toxic fumes, firefighters and witnesses said on Monday.   

Hundreds of firefighters and police were battling the blaze which swept through a two-storey warehouse in Icheon, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Seoul, cornering 35 construction workers.    Firefighters recovered seven bodies, witnesses said, warning the death toll was likely to rise.

"The rescue work has been temporarily suspended due to toxic fumes and blazes yet to be fully put down," said an witness.   

Icheon fire department said 21 workers managed to escape the fire, with nine sent to hospital after inhaling fumes.   

"An initial report says 56 people were working at the time of fire, and 35 of them failed to escape it," a Icheon fire department official said.   

"The total number could be bigger or less. We don't know yet."   

The fire apparently started in the warehouse basement where workers were using flammable painting materials, the official said.  

Witnesses told Yonhap news agency there were explosions from the basement before the fire broke out.   

"There were loud bangs, flames shot up and one seriously burned woman ran into my restaurant crying for help," Lee Yong-Seon, 43, who runs a restaurant near the warehouse, told Yonhap.   

Korea 2000, owner of the newly constructed warehouse due to open this weekend, told Yonhap that workers had been welding in the building which contained spare polyurethane material used in the flooring.   

"We suspect flammable gas, probably caused by work with thinners and polyurethanes, exploded with a spark," an unnamed firefighter told YTN cable television news network.   

More than 100 fire engines and 440 fire fighters, backed by hundreds of police, were fighting the fire and toxic fumes.