FIRE ENGULFS TRADITIONAL MARKET

[Anchor Lead]

A fire engulfed Jeil Pyunghwa Market, one of the main wholesale shopping malls in the Dongdaemun fashion district. Merchants are expected to suffer huge losses as they have stocked their shops with new fall clothes.

[Pkg]

​Thick smoke envelops the Dongdaemun area in Seoul. Firefighters continue to spray water on the walls, but the smoke continues to spread. Merchants stand helpless as they anxiously watch the building burn. The fire broke out at the Jeil Pyunghwa Market building in Dongdaemun at around 40 minutes past midnight on Sunday. Two merchants were rescued on the sixth floor and treated for smoke inhalation, while two tile workers working on the fourth floor managed to make a quick escape.

[Soundbite] HONG DAE-PYO(JUNGBU FIRE STATION) : "Flames have died, but there is smoldering inside the piles of fabric and clothes."

Firefighters had a hard time putting out the blaze, as the steel plates on the building's exterior prevented the water from reaching the inside. They were able to extinguish the fire, 20 hours after ripping out the steel plates on the outer walls and spraying water inside the building. It was a challenging task as the shopping mall had piles of clothes and a complex layout. Merchants stand to suffer huge losses as they were getting ready to sell fall and winter clothes.

[Soundbite] LEE SU-BOK(JEIL PYUNGHWA MARKET MERCHANT) : "I stocked goods this week. I will probably have to discard them because soot and fume render them unmarketable."

Police and fire authorities believe that the blaze started at a women's apparel store on the third floor.