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SEOUL. — A resort in the south-eastern city of South Korea collapsed under the weight of heavy snow, burying around 60 university students, a local broadcaster YTN reported yesterday. An auditorium’s ceiling at the Mauna Ocean Resort in Gyeongju, around 370km southeast of Seoul collapsed at around 9:15pm local time under the weight of heavy snow.

The collapse buried some 60 students of the Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS), with another 30 students taken to the nearby hospital.

Another 50 students were being given first aid.
A student at the scene was quoted by the YTN as saying that three students were estimated to have been killed during the collapse.

When the auditorium caved in, about 700 students were holding a reception party for new students of the BUFS.

Rescue teams were dispatched to the scene, but they had difficulties in rescue operations as it was still snowing there and the resort building is located remotely at the foot of the mountain. — Xinhua.