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28 February 2025
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Four killed in South Korea road collapse; six injured
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Four people were killed and six were injured in South Korea after elevated parts of a highway under construction collapsed on Tuesday, 25 February 2025. The National Fire Agency said 10 people were working on the site in the city of Anseong, about 65km south of the capital Seoul and that it has mobilised three helicopters and nearly 150 officials for the search and rescue operation. The Transport Ministry said it dispatched a team of officials to the scene.
The accident took place at 09h49am (00:49 GMT), when five 50-metre steel structures supporting the highway bridge collapsed, trapping the workers in the rubble.
Ko Kyung-man, an Anseong fire official, said that four people had died, including two Chinese nationals and six were injured, including five who were in a critical condition. The five also included one Chinese citizen. "They were working to install a deck on the bridge," Ko told a televised briefing. "All of the 10 were up on the deck ... and fell from both sides when it collapsed."
Rescue workers at the site were seen examining twisted metal struts and fractured concrete slabs below the columns of the highway bridge.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it dispatched a team of officials to the scene.
Hyundai Engineering, the builder of the site, apologised for the loss of lives and injuries. “We are actively cooperating with the relevant authorities to ensure a swift site recovery and a thorough investigation into the exact cause of the accident,” the company said in a statement, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok called to mobilise all available personnel and to ensure safety measures to prevent further damage, his office said.
Choi became South Korea’s acting president in December, after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached for his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3. Yoon appeared in court for a preliminary hearing last week on allegations he was attempting to orchestrate a rebellion, before a criminal trial. Police arrested Yoon on January 15 after a weeklong standoff at his residential compound, in the first such action taken against a sitting president in South Korea.
Deadly accidents continue to regularly occur at industrial sites in South Korea, which introduced a law in 2022 to address safety lapses and punish company management if a worker is killed on the job.
Earlier in February, six people died in a fire at a hotel construction site in the port city of Busan, with about 100 people evacuated, including 14 workers plucked to safety by a helicopter after they had taken refuge on a rooftop.
In June last year, a fire at a lithium battery factory that authorities blamed on quality control failures and inadequate safety training killed 23 workers.
Source: Al Jazeera, Reuters
The accident took place at 09h49am (00:49 GMT), when five 50-metre steel structures supporting the highway bridge collapsed, trapping the workers in the rubble.
Ko Kyung-man, an Anseong fire official, said that four people had died, including two Chinese nationals and six were injured, including five who were in a critical condition. The five also included one Chinese citizen. "They were working to install a deck on the bridge," Ko told a televised briefing. "All of the 10 were up on the deck ... and fell from both sides when it collapsed."
Rescue workers at the site were seen examining twisted metal struts and fractured concrete slabs below the columns of the highway bridge.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it dispatched a team of officials to the scene.
Hyundai Engineering, the builder of the site, apologised for the loss of lives and injuries. “We are actively cooperating with the relevant authorities to ensure a swift site recovery and a thorough investigation into the exact cause of the accident,” the company said in a statement, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok called to mobilise all available personnel and to ensure safety measures to prevent further damage, his office said.
Choi became South Korea’s acting president in December, after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached for his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3. Yoon appeared in court for a preliminary hearing last week on allegations he was attempting to orchestrate a rebellion, before a criminal trial. Police arrested Yoon on January 15 after a weeklong standoff at his residential compound, in the first such action taken against a sitting president in South Korea.
Deadly accidents continue to regularly occur at industrial sites in South Korea, which introduced a law in 2022 to address safety lapses and punish company management if a worker is killed on the job.
Earlier in February, six people died in a fire at a hotel construction site in the port city of Busan, with about 100 people evacuated, including 14 workers plucked to safety by a helicopter after they had taken refuge on a rooftop.
In June last year, a fire at a lithium battery factory that authorities blamed on quality control failures and inadequate safety training killed 23 workers.
Source: Al Jazeera, Reuters
