Market passage in eastern S. Korea collapses after heavy snowfall

[unreal.livejournal.com]

The main roof of an outdoor market in eastern South Korea collapsed under the weight of snowfall on Wednesday afternoon, but all nine people trapped under the wreckage were rescued, emergency authorities said.

The plastic makeshift roof of the market in Samcheok, about 290 kilometers east of Seoul, broke down at around 2:30 p.m., injuring seven people, while two others came out unscratched, the authorities said.

"As soon as the accident took place, we rescued seven residents who were wounded from the collapse. No casualties have been reported so far," an official said. "We are looking into whether there are more people trapped, but no one is believed to be there now."

Witnesses said the roof cracked down while residents were clearing snow around the market, home to 37 privately-owned shops that suffered damage from the record snow.

Emergency staff and soldiers, who were helping with snow removal, were immediately mobilized for rescue efforts and evacuated about 200 people in case of an additional collapse, they noted.

Up to 100 centimeters of snow pounded Samcheok and other east coastal areas in Gangwon Province for three days until early Tuesday, the most snow since record-keeping began in 1911, isolating households in remote villages, devastating farms, temporarily closing schools and forcing massive flight cancellations. Samcheok had 110 centimeters of snow during the period.

Source: yonhapnews

Comments

[itangeisha.livejournal.com]

No that's sad! The poor people. Esp sellers there.. they don't have a lot D:

[peachywink.livejournal.com]

I guess scince it's the markets crappy roof none of the stall owners thought to clean it off themselves because they don't own it.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

They've never got any more than 10cm of snow on an average winter.
The concept of shoveling is alien in itself.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

i dunno, didnt they have a lot of snow last year too? i think i saw it on the korean news. i hope they know now though.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

In the five years I attended public school there I don't recall having a single snow day, nor ever seeing snow pile up any higher than about half a foot / 15cm.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

i guess it depends on where in korea, i suppose. but half a foot is a lot for me already though, since i'm from maryland and we usually dont get more than like 3-4 inches max, except in recent years, we've been getting a lot more snow.

[newlines.livejournal.com]

:( everywhere is snowpocalypse. i hope those stall owners get up and going again soon

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

damn this snow