About 70 elderly residents left their village, Bongsan-ri, in Gumi by two buses to Baekhyeon-ri, about six kilometres (3.7 miles) away, to avoid the fallout from the September 27 leak of about eight tons of hydrofluoric acid.

"We decided to get out of this village to avoid health risks," village leader Park Myung-seok told journalists, demanding local government authorities provide them with proper shelters.

The village is home to about 300 people, and the disaster management office in Gumi said the remaining residents would be evacuated in stages.