A fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon in Guryong Village, a shantytown in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, affected 77 households and 107 people before the main blaze was brought under control after about seven and a half hours, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, via Reuters.

The fire began at about 3:50 p.m. local time (0650 GMT) in a temporary structure, Yonhap said. The fire agency deployed 232 personnel and 70 vehicles to fight the blaze, and six helicopters were sent to stop the fire spreading to a nearby mountain, according to Reuters reporting of Yonhap's account.

Fire authorities raised their emergency response to Level 2 at 4:29 p.m. as strong, shifting winds carried the flames across the densely packed settlement, Aju Press reported. Districts 1, 2 and 3 suffered the worst damage, according to the Gangnam District Office figures cited by Aju Press, and thick smoke was visible as far away as Dobong in northern Seoul and Anyang in neighbouring Gyeonggi Province.

No injuries or casualties were reported in the first hours, a fire official told Reuters. Yonhap later said one woman suffered a minor leg injury. Aju Press reported that 39 residents evacuated on their own, no one was believed trapped, and the gymnasiums of Gaepo Middle School and Guryong Middle School were designated as temporary shelters for displaced residents.

A settlement long known to be at fire risk

Guryong, often described as Seoul's largest remaining shantytown, emerged in the 1970s and 1980s when families displaced by public works projects settled on the edge of Gangnam without permits, Reuters reported. Its densely packed homes are built with flammable materials such as vinyl sheets and plywood. A major fire in the village in January forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.

The cause of Tuesday's fire had not been announced in the reports available at publication. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if fire authorities release a cause or a fuller damage assessment.