A pair of illegal Vietnamese immigrants fell to their deaths out of a four-story motel window while trying to evade an illegal-gambling raid by police in Gwangju on Sunday.

The two men, aged 30 and 34, whose names were undisclosed to the media, fell while attempting to hide during the raid and were taken to the hospital but died soon after. Another illegal Vietnamese immigrant, 30, fell with the pair and is in critical condition.

The Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency, with 15 officials including seven from the Korea Immigration Service, raided the motel after being tipped off that illegal immigrants from Vietnam were holding a gambling racket in the basement.

Police arrested 24 Vietnamese immigrants who were betting on poker and a Vietnamese game in an illicit gambling den in two reserved rooms on the fourth-floor of the motel.

Police confiscated 4.8 million won ($4,180) from the scene and the 24 immigrants were taken in for further questioning.

During the raid, the three men attempted to hide between a window and a steel privacy apparatus but fell to the motel parking lot after the fence dislodged itself under their weight.

Fourteen others arrested during the raid were found to be illegal immigrants.

“We believe that they were hiding because they wanted to avoid being deported, which led to the incident,” said a police official, who declined to be named by the media.

“We did not consider the possibility of incidents, including falling out windows as the information had pointed to a gambling den in the basement,” he added.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)