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3 dead in South Korea after collapse at overpass demolition site

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Three people were killed and three others were injured Tuesday when a decades-old overpass undergoing demolition partially collapsed in the South Korean capital, fire officials said.

The accident occurred during a safety inspection after workers halted demolition work upon noticing that a part of the structure had slightly sunk while concrete slabs were being cut, said Lee Jong-woon, an official at Seoul’s Seodaemun District Fire Station. The victims were crushed by debris and other wreckage after a section of a bridge deck suddenly collapsed, officials said.

Police and emergency officials sealed off traffic around the site, where twisted steel beams and shattered slabs of concrete hung precariously from the edge of the overpass.

Some debris also fell on a nearby railway, forcing the Korea Railroad Corp. to suspend some operations to Seoul Station.

Built in 1966, the overpass had been undergoing demolition since August last year over safety concerns.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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