Seoul, Feb 18: At least 10 people, 9 of them college students, were injured and more than 100 hurt once a resort building in a South Korean town folded underneath the load of serious snow, a media report aforesaid here Tues.

The incident occurred once a gymnasium at the Mauna Ocean Resort in Gyeongju, some 370 km from Seoul, caved in at around nine.15 p.m. local time Monday, Xinhua quoted police and fireplace authorities as saying.

As several as 565 students of the Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS) were participating in a reception party for freshers once the gymnasium folded.

As of 5.50 a.m. Tuesday, 9 students and one party organiser died and 101 students were wounded, with 17 of them underneath treatment for serious injuries. 3 students and 11 party organisers remained unaccounted for, with those calculable to be buried underneath the building however.

Over the past week, the Gyeongju town and its surrounding areas witnessed regarding 50 cm of snow.

About 400 rescue staff, including fireplace and police officers and troops from close marine corps and military units, were sent to the scene. however they had difficulties in operation because the building is found at the highest of the mountain and snow laid thick on the ground.

Most of rescue staff had to walk many hundred meters through the slippery and narrow road to the scene.