Mudslides in SKorea kill 36

WALLS of mud barreling down a hill buried 10 college students sleeping in a resort cabin as flash floods submerged the streets and subway stations in Seoul, killing at least 36 people in South Korea.

The students were engulfed by a landslide in Chuncheon, 110km north-east of Seoul. A married couple and a convenience store owner also died.

Witnesses said the landslide sounded like a massive explosion or a freight train. They described people screaming as buildings were carried away by rivers of mud.

About 670 firefighters, soldiers, police and others rushed to rescue those trapped and extract the dead from the mud and wreckage in Chuncheon, where 24 others were injured and several buildings destroyed.