The China Mail - Heavy rains, flooding leave 37 dead in South Korea

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 72.000368
ALL 87.274775
AMD 390.940403
ANG 1.80229
AOA 912.000367
ARS 1137.970104
AUD 1.565349
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.720686
BBD 2.017877
BDT 121.428069
BGN 1.721593
BHD 0.376901
BIF 2930
BMD 1
BND 1.312071
BOB 6.906563
BRL 5.808204
BSD 0.999437
BTN 85.314611
BWP 13.77569
BYN 3.270808
BYR 19600
BZD 2.007496
CAD 1.384165
CDF 2877.000362
CHF 0.81849
CLF 0.025203
CLP 967.160396
CNY 7.30391
CNH 7.30369
COP 4310
CRC 502.269848
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 97.403894
CZK 22.038604
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.56557
DOP 60.503884
DZD 132.56604
EGP 51.126904
ERN 15
ETB 133.023649
EUR 0.879325
FJD 2.283704
FKP 0.753159
GBP 0.753835
GEL 2.740391
GGP 0.753159
GHS 15.56039
GIP 0.753159
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8655.503848
GTQ 7.698128
GYD 209.656701
HKD 7.763675
HNL 25.908819
HRK 6.612104
HTG 130.419482
HUF 359.10504
IDR 16862.9
ILS 3.68639
IMP 0.753159
INR 85.377504
IQD 1310
IRR 42125.000352
ISK 127.590386
JEP 0.753159
JMD 157.965583
JOD 0.709304
JPY 142.384504
KES 129.503801
KGS 87.233504
KHR 4015.00035
KMF 433.503794
KPW 899.977001
KRW 1418.390383
KWD 0.30663
KYD 0.832893
KZT 523.173564
LAK 21630.000349
LBP 89600.000349
LKR 298.915224
LRD 199.975039
LSL 18.856894
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.470381
MAD 9.275039
MDL 17.289555
MGA 4552.892736
MKD 54.091003
MMK 2099.608303
MNT 3548.057033
MOP 7.990393
MRU 39.435529
MUR 45.090378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1736.000345
MXN 19.71941
MYR 4.407504
MZN 63.905039
NAD 18.856894
NGN 1604.703725
NIO 36.775056
NOK 10.47246
NPR 136.503202
NZD 1.67405
OMR 0.384998
PAB 0.999437
PEN 3.763039
PGK 4.133235
PHP 56.712504
PKR 280.603701
PLN 3.762405
PYG 7999.894426
QAR 3.640604
RON 4.378104
RSD 103.137317
RUB 82.174309
RWF 1415
SAR 3.752237
SBD 8.368347
SCR 14.241693
SDG 600.503676
SEK 9.62027
SGD 1.310745
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.775038
SLL 20969.483762
SOS 571.503662
SRD 37.15037
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.745073
SYP 13001.68631
SZL 18.820369
THB 33.347038
TJS 10.733754
TMT 3.5
TND 2.988038
TOP 2.342104
TRY 38.020804
TTD 6.781391
TWD 32.524038
TZS 2687.503631
UAH 41.417687
UGX 3663.55798
UYU 41.913007
UZS 12986.521678
VES 80.85863
VND 25870
VUV 121.398575
WST 2.784098
XAF 577.111964
XAG 0.030658
XAU 0.000301
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.717698
XOF 575.000332
XPF 102.775037
YER 245.250363
ZAR 18.821904
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.458439
ZWL 321.999592
  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

Heavy rains, flooding leave 37 dead in South Korea
Heavy rains, flooding leave 37 dead in South Korea / Photo: © National Fire Agency/AFP

Heavy rains, flooding leave 37 dead in South Korea

Rescuers battled on Sunday to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel in South Korea, where at least 37 people have died and nine are missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides.

Text size:

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season, and there has been heavy rainfall for the last four days, causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 37 people were killed and another nine were missing nationwide in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

Hundreds of rescue workers were still struggling to reach more than 10 cars and an unknown number of people trapped in a 430-metre (1,410-foot) underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

When AFP arrived at the site Sunday, rescue workers were trying to drain the tunnel to reach victims, but the water still appeared to be too deep, hampering search efforts.

The tunnel was inundated on Saturday morning after floodwaters swept in too quickly for the vehicles inside to escape, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Five people were rescued from a bus in the tunnel Saturday, and nine bodies have so far been pulled from the site, with divers working around the clock searching for more victims, the interior ministry said.

The police have received missing person reports for 11 people believed to be in the tunnel, but a final official toll has not yet been provided, as it is unclear how many people were in each car, Yonhap reported.

"I have no hope but I can't leave," a parent of one of those missing in the tunnel told Yonhap.

"My heart wrenches thinking how painful it must have been for my son in the cold water."

Images broadcast on local television showed a torrential stream of water from a nearby river that had burst its banks flooding into the tunnel, as rescue workers struggled to use boats to get to people inside.

- More rain -

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is currently on an overseas trip, held an emergency meeting with his aides on the government's response, his office said.

Earlier, he ordered Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to mobilise all available resources to minimise casualties.

The majority of the casualties -- including 19 of the dead and eight of the missing -- were from North Gyeongsang province, and were largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in the province, the interior ministry said, and more than 1,500 people have been unable to return after evacuating from their homes.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast more heavy rain through Wednesday, and urged the public to "refrain from going outside".

South Korea is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period, but the country is typically well-prepared and the death toll is usually relatively low.

Scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.

South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding last year, which left more than 11 people dead.

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film "Parasite".

The government said at the time that the 2022 flooding was the heaviest rainfall since Seoul weather records began 115 years ago, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

G.Tsang--ThChM