<Anchor> The
damage should not be more serious, but there is a reporter at the fire site in Namyangju.
Reporter Lee Hyun-jung, what is the situation at the fire site right now?
<Reporter>
Yes, it is at the fire site in Dasan-dong, Namyangju.
It's been about 4 hours since the fire started, and there is no flame out there, but we are continuing to extinguish the fire along with the internal search work.
Traffic is being controlled and the lights are turned off, and the area is full of smoke.
As you may have seen in the video earlier, you must have seen black smoke rising with red flames from the first floor of the building and the entrance to the parking lot.
Now, as you can see behind me, the top of the building's outer wall is blackened.
In this building, shops such as restaurants and sports centers are gathered on the ground floor, and there is a large mart in the basement, so there were many visitors at the time of the fire.
Immediately after the fire, shopping mall visitors and apartment residents were urgently evacuated, and the fire department said that more than 20 people had drank smoke so far, and seven of them were taken to the hospital.
<Anchor>
Reporter Hyun-jung Lee, has any cause of the fire been identified?
<Reporter>
It is believed that the first fire started at a restaurant on the first floor of a shopping mall, but witnesses said that when the fire broke out, they heard a sound like the interior collapsed.
Police and fire departments will investigate the exact point of ignition and cause of the fire as soon as the fires are turned off and the internal search is complete.
(Video coverage: Park Dae-young, Video editing: Park Ki-deok)