No casualties reported as enormous hearth breaks out in village of makeshift houses situated on fringe of Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam district.
Revealed On 16 Jan 2026
Lots of of South Korean firefighters are battling a serious hearth in a disadvantaged space situated on the perimeter of the upmarket Gangnam district within the capital, Seoul.
The blaze broke out at about 5am native time (20:00 GMT) on Friday, and authorities raised the fireplace alert to the second-highest degree, with some 300 firefighters deployed to combat the blaze amid fears it’d unfold to a close-by mountain, the nation’s official Yonhap Information Company reviews.
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There have been no preliminary reviews of casualties as dozens of residents in Guryong Village, which was described by Yonhap as “one of many final remaining shanty cities in Seoul”, had been compelled to flee their houses, based on hearth officers.
Pictures from the scene confirmed a towering column of black smoke hanging over the realm, as aged residents carrying face masks evacuated.
Yonhap reported that 85 hearth vehicles had been despatched to deal with the fireplace, and a firefighting helicopter was prevented from taking part on account of poor visibility.
“I used to be asleep till a neighbour referred to as saying there was a fireplace. I ran out and noticed the flames already spreading,” Kim Okay-im, 69, who stated she had lived within the space for almost 30 years, advised the Reuters information company.
Guryong Village is located on the perimeter of the upmarket Gangnam district, which is named Seoul’s wealthiest space and instructions a few of the highest costs paid for actual property in South Korea.
The ramshackle housing within the village fashioned within the Seventies and Eighties, when low-income residents within the space had been compelled to maneuver because the capital underwent main redevelopment, together with through the Asian Video games and the Seoul Olympics.
At the moment, locals settled on the sting of Gangnam with out permits, based on a Seoul metropolis planning report.
The makeshift houses discovered within the village are usually densely packed collectively and constructed with extremely flammable supplies resembling vinyl sheets, plywood and styrofoam, making the realm significantly susceptible to fires, based on an evaluation by the fireplace division after a blaze in 2023.
Most residents have moved out of Guryong, however about 336 households stay, based on the Gangnam District metropolis planning division.
