Concert accident kills 16 in S. Korea

Sixteen people have been confirmed dead, with 10 others seriously injured, after a ground-level ventilation grate at a South Korean outdoor theater collapsed, Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday.

Twenty-six people were standing on the ventilation grate to get a better view of a K-Pop performance at an outdoor theater in Seongnam, just south of the South Korean capital, Seoul, when the grate collapsed at about 5:53 pm local time (4:53 pm China time) for unknown reasons. Those who were on the grate fell 10 meters onto a basement floor of the theater's parking lot.

Of the 26, 12 died on the spot, with two more dying on the way to a hospital. The other two died while being treated at the hospital.

"The injured are in serious condition so the number of deaths could rise," an emergency-services official said.

About 700 people were at the concert near a shopping mall where the group 4Minute was performing.

(China Daily 10/18/2014 page11)