An expressway rest area is in ruins due to a forest fire in Cheongsong, southeast South Korea, on March 27, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Fatalities from multiple wildfires raging in southeastern South Korea over the past week have increased to 26, the government said Thursday.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said the wildfires in the North and South Gyeongsang provinces have caused 56 casualties — 26 deaths, eight serious injuries and 22 light injuries — as of 6 a.m. Thursday.
It noted 22 of the deaths were reported from North Gyeongsang Province.
As many as 37,185 residents have been displaced as of 5 a.m. of the same day, including 29,911 in the Uiseong and Andong areas, about 190 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the government agency said. Of them, 20,485 have returned home after evacuation, while the remaining 16,700 are still staying in shelters.
There were a total of 10 medium-sized and large forest fire areas in the two provinces as of 5 a.m. and 36,009 hectares of woodland had been burned, the agency said. It is nearly 13,000 ha more than the 23,794 ha damaged by the east coast wildfires in 2000, which were the worst in national history.
The agency said the fire extinguishing rate stood at 52 percent in Andong, 54 percent in Uiseong and 77 percent in Sancheong, Hadong and Cheongsong, respectively.
(Yonhap)
