Fire in building killed atleast 29 people in South Korean city

A fire in an eight-storey fitness centre in the scenic South Korean city of Jecheon on Thursday killed at least 29 people, most of them as they were taking a sauna, officials said.

The blaze began in a car parked on the first floor and spread, one official said. The local fire station said at least 12 women and three men were known to have died. Thirteen bodies were unrecognisable.

The fire station official said most of the victims were found in the sauna, and the main cause of the death was suffocation rather than burns.

The casualty toll was likely to rise as efforts to find victims remained in progress, fire station officials said.