SKorean roof collapse kills 10 at college meeting
Baku, February 18 (AZERTAC). Emergency staff worked through the night in snow and sleet to pull survivors from the debris of an auditorium whose roof collapsed under the weight of snow, killing 10 people and injuring 100, most of them recently enrolled freshmen of a South Korean university, officials said Tuesday.
The students had gathered at the auditorium of a holiday resort for a welcoming ceremony Monday night when the roof came crashing down, leaving twisted metal and debris of concrete and wood.
Weather officials say the southeastern region saw the heaviest snowfall this month since measurements began three years ago.
Bad weather hampered rescuers who had to reach the site outside the historic tourist city of Gyeongju on icy roads. Working all night, they extricated survivors, many of them injured, and rushed them on stretchers to waiting ambulances.
About 560 students from Busan University of Foreign Studies had gathered for a two-day freshman orientation at the Manua Ocean Resort when a crack appeared in the auditorium ceiling before the collapse. Nine students and another person were killed, two people were seriously injured and 103 lightly injured, said Jung Yoon-han, director of the disaster management department at the Ministry of Security and Public Administration.
The students had just finished dinner and were gathering for recreational activities at the time of the collapse, Byun Ki-chan, head of the international exchange department at the university, told reporters Tuesday. Some managed to escape after noticing the crack but others couldn't leave in time, he said.
Lee Jae-soo, a spokesman at Kolon Group, said the auditorium hasn't received an outside safety examination since being completed in 2009 because the building isn't subject to such external inspections under the current law. But Kolon has conducted an internal safety inspection every month, Lee said by phone.
He said the auditorium was built by South Korean construction company Songwon, which broke ground in June, 2009 and completed the project in less than three months. The resort started using the auditorium in September 2009. He said the fact that the government granted permission to use the building means it was safe.
Calls to Songwon weren't immediately returned.
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