A landslide caused by torrential rain crashed into a South Korean mountain resort east of Seoul on Wednesday, destroying three small hotels and killing at least 13 people, the emergency services said. Wild weather has battered the central region of the country since late Tuesday, causing widespread flooding and travel chaos. The share price of insurers fell on fears that damage costs would run into millions of dollars. At Chuncheon, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Seoul, emergency workers, aided by soldiers, were clearing away mud and rubble from buildings after rescuing dozens of holidaymakers. “We were asleep and suddenly I heard a big sound, and then the ceiling fell down,” Lee Beon-seok, a student, told a television station. A resident reported hearing what sounded like a train. “Then I heard someone shouting ‘help me’. So I went out to see, and I saw a landslide had swept all over the area,” she said.
