SEOUL (REUTERS, AFP) – Six people were killed and several others missing when typhoon Mitag lashed South Korea with heavy rains and strong winds.

Mitag, the 18th typhoon this year,hit southern parts of the country on Wednesday night, prompting flood warnings and triggering landslides in affected areas.

A woman in her 70s died after she was swept away by strong winds in the southeastern city of Pohang while another woman was killed after heavy rain caused her house to collapse as she slept, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said.

Some of the six were underneath collapsed structures and others drowned, it said.

The death toll is expected to rise with several people missing.

In the southern port city of Busan – one of the hardest hit areas – around 600 rescue workers were trying to locate four people believed to be trapped beneath a landslide.

“An enormous amount of sand and earth slid down several hundred metres and instantly buried a house and a restaurant,” said a witness quoted by Yonhap news agency.

More than 100 houses and other private structures were flooded, with more than 1,500 evacuating their homes in advance in the southeast regions, the ministry said.

Some 44,045 houses and buildings had lost power between Wednesday and Thursday, of which 83 per cent have regained electricity, Korea Electric Power Corp said on Thursday.

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