A fire broke out at an apartment building in the southeastern port city of Busan, leaving one brain dead and two others seriously injured, officials said Wednesday.

The fire is assumed to have started in the living room of an apartment on the 13th floor at 9:43 p.m. Tuesday and was extinguished in about 30 minutes after completely destroying the unit, according to officials.

A 70-year-old resident was found unconscious in the laundry room and transported to a nearby hospital but was reportedly declared to be brain dead. His 63-year-old wife and 40-year-old daughter were also found unconscious in the bathroom of the main bedroom and are receiving medical treatment, officials said.

The fire authority and police plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire. (Yonhap)