SEOUL - OFFICIALS sealed off a poultry farm after some 2,400 chickens died in a suspected bird flu outbreak in South Korea, the government said on Wednesday.

Preliminary tests on chickens that died at a farm in Gimje, 260 kilometres southwest of Seoul, pointed to a suspected avian flu case, the agriculture ministry said.

Detailed results were expected to be announced Friday.

Some 2,400 chickens out of about 150,000 birds on the farm died between Saturday and Tuesday. The owner began reporting the deaths to health authorities on Monday.

Authorities immediately sealed off the location and barred any shipment of chickens or eggs to and from the farm, as well as to 12 other nearby farms.

If the flu strain is found to be highly virulent, authorities will cull the chickens and destroy the eggs in the farm and nearby areas.

The last time a virulent strain was reported in South Korea was in March 2007.

South Korea reported seven cases of infection by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu between November 2006 and March last year, resulting in the temporary suspension of poultry exports to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere.

But last June, the World Organisation for Animal Health classified the country as free from the disease.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 230 people worldwide since late 2003. No South Koreans have contracted the disease.

Experts fear the virus, which is usually spread directly from birds to humans, could mutate into a form easily transmissible between people, sparking a deadly global pandemic. -- AFP