Showing posts with label South Korea. Show all posts
Friday, 17 October 2014
16 dead in accident at South Korean concert
(AP) — Sixteen people watching an outdoor pop concert in South Korea fell 20 meters (60 feet) to their deaths Friday when a ventilation grate they were standing on collapsed, officials said.
Photos of the scene in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, showed a deep concrete shaft under the broken grate.
Seongnam city spokesman Kim Nam-jun announced the deaths in a televised briefing and said 11 others were seriously injured.
Fire officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the victims were standing on the grate while watching an outdoor performance by girls' band 4Minute, which is popular across Asia.
About 700 people had gathered to watch the concert, which was part of a local festival. Fire officials said many of the dead and injured appeared to be commuters who stopped to watch the concert after leaving work. Most of the dead were men in their 30s and 40s, while five were women in their 20s and 30s, they said.
Kim said it was believed that the grate collapsed under the weight of the people. Prime Minister Chung Hong-won visited an emergency center in Seongnam and urged officials to focus on helping the victims' families and ensure the injured get proper treatment, Kim said.
A video recorded by someone at the concert that was shown on the YTN television network showed the band continuing to dance for a while in front of a crowd that appeared to be unaware of the accident.
Dozens of people were shown standing next to the ventilation grate, gazing into the dark gaping hole where people had been standing to watch the performance. YTN said the ventilation grate was about 3 to 4 meters (10 to 12 feet) wide. Photos apparently taken at the scene showed that the ventilation grate reached to the shoulders of many passers-by.
The collapse came as South Korea is still struggling with the aftermath of a ferry disaster in April that left more than 300 people dead or missing.
For a time, the sinking jolted South Korea into thinking about safety issues that had been almost universally overlooked as the country rose from poverty and war to an Asian power.
The tragedy exposed regulatory failures that appear to have allowed the ferry Sewol to set off with far more cargo than it could safely carry. Family members say miscommunications and delays during rescue efforts doomed their loved ones.
Analysts say many safety problems in the country stem from little regulation, light punishment for violators and wide ignorance about safety in general — and a tendency to value economic advancement over all else.
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Qatar's Ogunode sets Asian mark in blistering 100m
(Reuters) - Qatar's Femi Ogunode broke the 10-second mark at the Asian Games for the first time, splashing his way through the rain to 100 meters gold on Sunday, while South Korea's big-hitting baseball team finally overcame stubborn Taiwan to win a tense final 6-3.
On a day when China smashed through the 100 gold medal mark, and second-placed South Korea put daylight between themselves and rivals Japan, Ogunode blasted out of the blocks and motored home ahead of China's Su Bingtian and Japan's Kei Takase.
Originally hailing from Nigeria, Ogunode won the 200-400 double four years ago and is going for the 100-200 in Incheon.
While his task was made easier by the withdrawal of Japan's Yoshihide Kiryu due to injury, his time of 9.93 seconds in atrocious conditions confirmed his status as Asia's fastest man.
"I had always confidence in myself," he said at a news conference. "I don’t know what to say. So grateful and so happy. After four months of training, I am now looking forward to going back home to meet my family."
In the women's blue riband sprint, China's Wei Yongli pipped Japan's Chisato Fukushima by a hundredth of a second, with Kazakhstan's Olga Safronova another hundredth back in third.
"I didn't think I could be the champion," said Wei. "I had a very good coach from America."
Bahrain's Ruth Jebet finally got her hands on a gold medal after her disqualification from the women's steeplechase the previous night was overturned.
The Kenyan-born 17-year-old had momentarily stepped off the track during her run at the Asiad Main Stadium and was then stunningly stripped of her gold medal while waiting for the prize-giving ceremony and had to be led away in tears.
However, reviews later showed that her infraction had not impeded any of her competitors and the decision was reversed, allowing Jebet to stand atop the podium at a rearranged ceremony on Sunday.
"I was quite shocked because I wasn't even aware of the mistake," she said at a news conference. "I'm happy to become a gold medallist because I had a problem yesterday. But I fought for my king. I was waiting for the gold."
LATE PENALTY
After nine days of competition, China are out of sight at the top of the medals table on 105 golds.
South Korea, who have finished runners-up at the last four Games, look likely to do so again after finishing the day with 42 golds, eight more than Japan.
The Northeast Asian rivals went head-to-head in the quarter-finals of the men's football tournament on Sunday, with the hosts coming out on top 1-0 after scoring a late penalty kick.
Japanese captain Ryota Oshima inexplicably bundled Lee Jong-ho over in the box, leaving the South Korean substitute with blood streaming for his nose, and Jang Hyun-soo slammed home the spot kick to the delight of more than 43,000 fans at Munhak Stadium.
"I think we tend to score more goals in the second half than the first because our players are physically stronger," Korean coach Lee Kwang-jong told a news conference.
South Korean fans also got the baseball gold medal they had been demanding after the hosts capitalised on a late meltdown by Taiwan to score four runs in the eighth inning.
Taiwan's Lo Chia Jen hit Kang Jung-ho with a pitch in the eighth with the bases loaded to tie the score at 3-3, before Na Sung-bum's grounder brought across the go-ahead run and Hwang Jae-gyun smacked a two-run single to make it 6-3.
South Korea, who also beat Taiwan in the 2010 final in Guangzhou, have now won four of the six baseball golds since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1994.
AN HONOUR
Badminton world number one Lee Chong Wei missed his last chance to win Asian Games gold after falling to his great adversary, Lin Dan, in the semi-finals on Sunday.
The 31-year-old is winding down a career that has seen him win more than 50 career titles and crowned the world's top player, but the search for that elusive major title goes on.
"This is my last Asian Games, so I tried my best," said a disappointed Lee.
Lin was all that stood between Lee and Olympic gold both in London and Beijing but the Chinese sensation always had the best of him at the Games. He also beat him in the final of the world championships twice and denied him gold at the last Asian Games in Guangzhou.
"Lee Chong Wei is the greatest competitor," said Lin. "It was my honour to compete with him."
Women's doubles gold medallist Greysia Polii of Indonesia told Reuters she had been on the verge of quitting badminton after being expelled from the London Olympics in a 'match-fixing' scandal that rocked the sport.
Polii and then partner Meiliana Jauhari were one of four teams thrown out of the London Games after trying to throw matches and secure easier passage through the competition.
"After the Olympic tragedy I almost gave up badminton," she told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. "I almost quit my career. I didn't want to continue."
Two years later, after beating Japanese pair Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo in the Asian Games final, she is looking forward to getting the chance to make up for the London fiasco.
"Our goal is we will go for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro," she said. "Along the way ... we will continue to keep playing more consistently and then to aim for next year’s World Championship in Indonesia."
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