Six dead in South Korea hotel fire that saw helicopter rescue guests from roof

Reports suggest the fire is at a construction site of the Banyan Tree Hotel

Smoke billows from a construction site in Busan, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 (South Korea Defense Ministry)

Six people have died in a fire in a hotel resort construction site in South Korea’s port city of Busan, according to the city’s fire agency, with a helicopter used to pluck some 14 people to safety after they had taken refuge on a rooftop.

Around 100 people had been evacuated at the sprawling construction site, where work had been going on in three buildings spanning 12 storeys above ground and three below, the Busan Fire & Disaster Headquarters said.

A Busan fire agency official said on live television that about 25 people had sustained light injuries, including some due to smoke inhalation.

Reports suggest the fire is at a construction site of the Banyan Tree Hotel.

A rescue helicopter carries evacuees from the rooftop at the scene of a fire at a construction site of the Banyan Tree Hotel in the southern port city of Busan on February 14, 2025 (YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images)

The fire agency said the blaze appeared to have broken out in insulation material loaded near an indoor swimming pool area on the first floor of one of the buildings.

South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok ordered all resources available to be used to extinguish the fire, his office said in a statement.