Students dead in South Korea auditorium collapse

At least nine people were killed and about 10 others remain trapped after an auditorium collapsed under heavy snow on Monday at a resort in the southern South Korean city of Gyeongju, rescue workers said.

More than 565 first-year students from Busan University of Foreign Studies were having a welcoming party for freshmen in the Gyeongju auditorium when the roof caved shortly after 9 p.m. local time, police officials said.

Rescue workers were continuing to search for more students who were feared trapped inside the collapsed structure, police said.

"The ceiling came crashing down at the front near the stage," one student told the YTN news channel. "Then pandemonium broke out and everyone started rushing towards the exits, shouting and screaming."

Pictures from the Yonhap news agency showed injured students being carried away on stretchers from the largely metallic structure, which appeared to have buckled in on itself.

The auditorium was part of the Mauna Ocean Resort, in an area that has experienced exceptionally heavy snowfall over the past week.

Wire services