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Nine people killed after building falls onto bus in South Korea

WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: Disturbing video has emerged of the moment a building fell on top of a bus in South Korea, killing nine and seriously injuring eight.

In what appears to be security footage, the building in the southern city of Gwangju can be seen crashing onto the busy street below, with the bus vanishing underneath.

A plume of smoke follows as approaching traffic comes to a standstill.

The security footage shows the bus seconds before it is crushed by the falling building. Source: Weibo
The security footage shows the bus seconds before it is crushed by the falling building in South Korea. Source: Weibo

The concrete building was in the process of being demolished, however there were no workers on site at the time of the fall.

Emergency officers dispatched to the site rescued eight people from the bus, all seriously injured, before discovering the nine bodies, the National Fire agency said in a statement.

Fire agency officials said emergency officers were still searching for any other people who might be trapped under the debris. The cause of the collapse wasn’t immediately known.

Fire officer Kim Seok-sun said in a televised briefing the bus driver was among the injured. The bus was stationary when the building fell.

South Korean firefighters search for passengers among the rubble. Source: Reuters
South Korean firefighters search for passengers among the rubble. Source: Reuters
The building fell onto a busy road in the city, South Korea. Source: Reuters
The building fell onto a busy road in the city of Gwangju, South Korea. Source: Reuters

Photos of the aftermath shows rescue crews around the flattened shell of the bus, surrounded by debris.

A later video after the collapse showed dozens of rescue workers equipped with stretchers and crowbars searching for survivors while excavators hacked at the huge mountain of crumbled concrete and bent steel beams spilling over the busy road.

Nearby shopkeeper Yang Ik-je told Yonhap news agency it felt like "the earth was shaking".

"I could not see the road clearly, as if it were shrouded in thick fog," he said.

"I checked the CCTV to find out that the building collapsed onto a bus."

Details of the victims was not immediately released by authorities.

With AP

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