A series of explosions erupted on Tuesday after fire broke out in a highway tunnel south of Seoul, South Korea, and trapped military trucks carrying missile parts, firefighters said.
Two 15-tonne army trucks carrying missile parts and about 50 other vehicles were trapped in the tunnel by the fire and thick smoke, they said.
But all occupants of the vehicles managed to escape unhurt, according to the local fire department and witnesses.
”There were no casualties,” Daegu Fire Department official Kyong Soo-Hyun said. ”There are some 50 cars still stuck in the tunnel. But motorists all evacuated the tunnel upon the fire.”
Witnesses said they heard seven or eight loud blasts in the tunnel about 300km south-east of Seoul.
The ministry of defence in Seoul said it was investigating the cause of the incident and it was unclear whether the explosions were linked to the missile parts.
Witnesses and fire-department officials said a convoy of four trucks carrying missiles parts was passing through the tunnel when one of the trucks caught fire.
The incident occurred at the Dalseong 2 tunnel on the Guma Expressway, which links Daegu to coastal Masan, officials said.
Two of the trucks passed through without incident, but the fire blocked the two other trucks and a stream of cars arriving in the tunnel.
A quick-thinking truck driver who was caught behind the military vehicles said he told all of the motorists to evacuate the tunnel as quickly as possible.
”All of the motorists escaped the tunnel, leaving their cars behind. I also abandoned my truck to escape the tunnel,” said the driver, Kim Tae-Soo.
Kim O-Yon, head of Daegu fire station, said 70 fire trucks were at the scene and the fire was under control.
”Trouble in the break lining of a military truck carrying missile parts appeared to have caused fire, followed by an explosion that also caused the fire to spread to other cars inside the tunnel,” he said. ”All drivers have escaped safely.” — Sapa-AFP