Seven dead in flooded S Korea car park after typhoon

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YONHAP/REUTERS, Surf whipped up by the typhoon crash onto a road in Pohang on Tuesday morning

By Frances Mao, Sept. 7: Seven people in South Korea have died after they were trapped in an underground car park during floods caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor.

They had gone down to move their cars but got caught by the incoming torrents.

Crew said they rescued two people, who reportedly survived by clinging to ceiling pipes for more than 12 hours.

Typhoon Hinnamnor, the strongest cyclonic storm this year so far, hit South Korea earlier this week.

Rescuers had to wade through metres of brown water to enter the almost completely submerged basement on Tuesday night.

According to news site Yonhap, all nine people were residents of an apartment building who had earlier on Tuesday morning been told by the management office to move their cars from the car park.

The survivors - a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s - were reported to be in stable condition.

Pohang, the city where the tragedy occurred, suffered the worst damage across the country, said President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Yoon expressed his grief over the drownings, calling it a "disaster".

"I couldn't sleep last night because of this tragedy," he said.

He added that he'd designated the city a special disaster zone and he would travel to the region later on Wednesday.

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