2 killed in South Korea's Daejeon city

Seoul, Sep 26 (IANS) A fire broke out at an outlet mall in South Korea's Daejeon city on Monday, leaving two people dead, another seriously injured and four others missing, fire officials said.

The fire started at 7.45 a.m. at the Hyundai Premium Outlet in Daejeon, 160 km south of Seoul, Yonhap News Agency quoted the officials as saying.

Two men, one in his 50s and the other in his 30s, were found with serious injuries and sent to a hospital, but later pronounced dead.

Another man in his 40s is under medical treatment after sustaining serious injuries, fire authorities said.

Four other logistics employees remain unaccounted for, and a search is underway.

Some 110 people, mostly customers at nearby accommodation buildings and employees, evacuated.

No outlet customers were around, as the fire broke before the mall's business hours.

More than 126 personnel and 40 pieces of firefighting equipment were combating the fire, but firefighters were having difficulties in the search operation due to massive smoke issued from burning paper boxes in the mall's underground cargo handling area.

Fire authorities are conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, including the possibility of the explosion of an electric car that was being charged in an underground parking garage.