Seoul shantytown fire largely extinguished, Yonhap reports

SEOUL, Oct 27 — A fire that broke out on ​Tuesday in Guryong village, a shantytown in Seoul's upmarket Gangnam district, affecting ‌77 households and 107 people, has been largely extinguished, South ⁠Korea's Yonhap news ​agency said.

The main ⁠fire was brought under control after 7-1/2 ‌hours, with ‌one woman suffering a minor leg injury, ⁠it added.

Yonhap said ⁠people had evacuated to an emergency shelter.

The fire agency deployed 232 personnel and 70 vehicles to fight the blaze, which began at about 3:50 p.m. local time (0650 ‌GMT) in a temporary ​structure, Yonhap said. Six helicopters were sent to stop it spreading to a nearby mountain.

Guryong, often described as Seoul's largest remaining shantytown, emerged in the 1970s and 1980s when families displaced by public works ​projects settled on the edge of Gangnam ‌without permits. ‌Its ⁠densely packed homes are built with flammable materials such as vinyl sheets and plywood.

A major fire in the village in January ‌forced hundreds of residents ​to evacuate.

(Reporting by ‌Joyce Lee; Additional ⁠Reporting by ​Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies and Raju ​Gopalakrishnan)

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