LAST UPDATE | 16 Jul 2023

SOUTH KOREAN RESCUERS have pulled nine bodies from a flooded tunnel where around 15 vehicles were trapped in muddy water, as days of heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides and destroyed homes across the country, officials said.

A total of 37 people have died and thousands have been evacuated since 9 July, when heavy rain started pounding South Korea’s central regions.

Nearly 900 rescuers, including divers, were searching the tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where the vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood yesterday evening, Seo Jeong-il, chief of the city’s fire department, said in a briefing.

Rescuers search for survivors on the road leading to the underground tunnel in Cheongju Alamy Alamy

Fire officials estimated that the tunnel filled with water in as little as two or three minutes.

Photos and video from the scene showed rescue workers establishing a perimeter and pumping brown water out of the tunnel as divers used rubber boats to move in and out of the area.

Yang Chan-mo, an official from the North Chungcheong provincial fire department, said it could take several hours to pump out all the water from the tunnel, which was still filled with four to five metres (13 to 16.4ft) of water dense with mud and other debris.

Workers were proceeding slowly to prevent any victims or survivors from being swept out, the official said.

Nine survivors were rescued from the tunnel and around 10 others were believed to be missing based on reports by families or others, but the exact number of passengers trapped in vehicles was not immediately clear, the chief of the city’s fire department said.

More than 60cm (23.6in) of rain was measured in the South Chungcheong provincial towns of Gongju and Cheongyang since 9 July.

Cheongju, where the tunnel is located, received more than 54cm (21.2in) during the same period.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said the central and southern parts of the country could still get as much as 30cm (12in) of additional rain through Tuesday.

Alamy Alamy

More than 8,850 people have been evacuated and 27,260 households had been without electricity in the past several days.

The rain damaged or destroyed nearly 50 roads and more than 100 homes, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said.

At least 35 people were treated for injuries.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a trip to Europe, discussed the rain-related casualties and damages during an emergency meeting while travelling to Poland on a train after visiting Ukraine on Saturday, according to his office.

Alamy Alamy

Yoon called for officials to mobilise all available resources to respond to the disaster.