Story highlights Fire thought to have started in parking lot before spreading through 8-story building

Most of those killed were women who'd been in a public bath on the second floor

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) A fire which killed 29 people in South Korea Thursday is the country's deadliest in nine years, according to the country's National Fire Agency.

The fire ripped through an eight-story building in the city of Jecheon in North Chungcheong province just before 4 p.m. local time Thursday (3 a.m. ET), according to an official from the North Chungcheong Fire Service.

Twenty bodies, including 18 women and two men, were found in the public bath on the second floor of the building, a Jecheon city spokesman said Friday. The others were found on the higher floors of the building, which included a gym and restaurants.

The dead include 23 women and six men, CNN affiliate KBS reported. All but one -- a male victim -- have been identified, the Jecheon city spokesman said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited the site of the blaze Friday, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House told CNN, as the Jecheon mayor promised a thorough investigation.

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