At least 37 people have died and nine are missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in South Korea, authorities said Sunday, as rescuers continued to search for people trapped in a flooded underground tunnel, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The Ministry of Interior has announced that 37 people have died and nine are missing following the torrential rains, most of them buried by landslides.

Hundreds of rescue workers are trying to reach more than a dozen cars stuck in a 430-meter underground tunnel in Jeonju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the tunnel flooded on Saturday morning after a sudden flood.

Seven bodies were found in the tunnel on Sunday, and rescuers are still trying to find other victims.

“I have no hope, but I can’t leave,” one of the dead who disappeared in the tunnel told Yonhap. “It breaks my heart to think of the pain my son must have felt in the cold water,” he added.

In pictures broadcast by local television, you can see how a stream of water from a nearby river overflows and enters the tunnel.

Most of the victims – 17 dead and nine missing – are from North Gyeongsang province, a mountainous region particularly affected by landslides that buried homes and trapped their residents.

Some of the missing people were swept away by flooding caused by an overflowing river in North Gyeongsang Province, the ministry said.

More rain is forecast until Wednesday, and the Korea Meteorological Administration has warned that the weather conditions pose a “serious” danger.