At least 7 dead in fire at South Korea's shopping mall

At least seven people were killed and another was seriously injured in South Korea on Monday after a fire broke out at the basement of a shopping mall in the city of Daejeon, officials said.

An official at the Daejeon Fire Headquarters said firefighters were continuing to search for survivors after putting out the blaze. It wasn't immediately clear if there were people still missing and smoke remained in some parts of the building.

The fire started at around 7:46 a.m. local time and quickly spread across the basement's loading dock area, prompting the evacuation of over 110 people, including mall employees and customers at a nearby hotel. The blaze did not occur during business hours.

Over 500 firefighters and 90 vehicles were deployed, the fire was extinguished at around 3 p.m. local time, a fire official said.

Photos from the scene showed a cloud of dark-gray smoke emerging from beneath the building as firefighters used water hoses and other equipment to put out the blaze.

Lee Seung-han, a fire official at the Yuseong fire department, said six of the people found dead were mall employees and that officials were still trying to identify the other victim.

Lee and Go had no immediate comment about the cause of their deaths.

Fire officials and police were investigating the cause of the fire.

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