Major fire breaks out in slum area of South Korea's Gangnam district

Nearly 300 South Korean firefighters were deployed on Friday to fight a major fire in a deprived area of the upmarket Gangnam district of southern Seoul, a fire official said.

No casualties had been reported so far, but 47 residents were evacuated, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters said by telephone.

Authorities raised the alert on the fire to the second level, with firefighters concerned about it spreading to a nearby mountain, the official said.

A total of 85 fire trucks were sent to the scene, but officials could not send a helicopter due to haze and fine dust shrouding the city, she said.

South Korean Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung ordered officials to "mobilise all available personnel and equipment to focus fully on rescuing lives and extinguishing the fire," the Yonhap News Agency cited him as saying.

The area known as Guryong Village is a pocket of ramshackle housing in Gangnam, one of Seoul's wealthiest districts. It is due to be redeveloped into high-rise residential buildings.

-Heejin Kim and Kyu-seok Shim/Reuters