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| [Korea News Photo] Mountain Fire Disaster |
| Traditional grass-buring ceremony turns tragic as fire sweeps toward crowd of 15,000 |
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Todd Thacker (todd)  |
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Published 2009-02-10 11:08 (KST) |
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 | |  Spectators watch the burning grass in a traditional mountain ceremony. Winds picked up and broke through a fire-proof barrier. | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | | At least four participants were killed and 50 others injured Monday evening (Feb. 9) during a traditional grass-burning ceremony in the South Gyeongsang Province town of Changnyeong.
Municipal officials conducted a controlled burn of a 180,000 square meter field of pampas grass at Mount Hwawang, in a ceremony that is held every three years to mark the first full moon of the Lunar New Year.
Increased winds caused the fire to flare out of control and despite a fireproof barrier, some of the 15,000 people at the event were trapped by the rapidly moving fire.
The four who died reportedly jumped off a cliff to escape the raging blaze.
 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
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 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | | | Spectators rush to escape the oncoming flames. | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | An injured spectator is brought to a local hospital -- many suffered burns, smoke inhalation and other crush related injuries. | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
 | | | | | | ©2009 Gyeongsang Domin Ilbo | |
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©2009 OhmyNews
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