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AT least 18 people died and another 19 were injured as wildfires ravaged South Korea’s southern regions amid dry weather and strong winds, government officials said Wednesday.
Latest reports by AFP states that South Korea has said today that 18 people have been killed in one of the country's worst wildfires, with multiple blazes still raging and thousands of firefighters trying to bring them under control.
Meanwhile, AP reported, officials in Andong city and other southeastern cities and towns ordered residents to evacuate on Tuesday as firefighters struggled to contain multiple blazes fueled by dry winds, which burned more than 43,000 acres of land and destroyed hundreds of structures, including a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple.
More than 5,500 people were forced to evacuate from their homes in Andong, the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan, where the fires were the largest, according to South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
South Korean officials earlier on Tuesday had said that firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in those areas, but the ongoing dry and windy weather caused setbacks and allowed the blazes to spread again.
Nearly 9,000 firefighters, along with more than 130 helicopters and hundreds of vehicles, were deployed to battle the fires, but efforts were partially suspended overnight as the winds strengthened.
Officials in Andong and Uiseong county ordered residents in several villages and those near Andong University to evacuate to safe locations or temporary shelters — including schools and indoor gyms — as a fire that started in Uiseong continued to spread due to strong winds.
The blaze in Uiseong destroyed Gounsa, a Buddhist temple built in the 7th century, according to officials from the Korea Heritage Service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and some of the temple’s national treasures, including a stone Buddha statue, were evacuated before the fire reached the wooden buildings.
The fire also spread to the nearby coastal town of Yeongdeok, where officials shut down roads and ordered residents of at least four villages to evacuate. The justice ministry did not immediately confirm local reports that it had begun relocating some 2,600 inmates from a prison in Cheongsong county, also near Uiseong. – March 26, 2025