SEOUL (Reuters) – More than 150 people evacuated from their homes in South Korea’s eastern coastal city of Gangneung as strong winds and dry weather fanned a wildfire on Tuesday, officials said.
Firefighters were struggling to control the blaze that started at around 8:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) on Monday in Gangneung, officials said.
The flames had prompted the evacuation of 152 residents in the city of more than 200,000 people as of noon local time, a Gangneung city official told Reuters. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Photos and footage circulating on social media showed large plumes of smoke and fires razing forests and fields.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to mobilise all available resources to put out the fire as soon as possible and quickly evacuate nearby residents to minimise casualties, his office said.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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