SOUTH Korean emergency services pulled seven bodies from a flooded tunnel today, bringing the official death toll from days of flash floods to 33.

Heavy rain has caused flooding and landslides that have destroyed homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate.

Nearly 400 rescue workers, including divers, were searching the tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where the vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday evening, Seo Jeong Il, chief of the city’s fire brigade, said in a briefing.