SEOUL: Transport and labour authorities said Wednesday (May 27) they were also investigating Tuesday’s (May 26) overpass collapse in Seoul that killed three people and injured three others, after prosecutors launched a special team to probe the accident.
The Ministry of Employment and Labour said it was cooperating with police and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to determine whether any safety violations contributed to the deadly accident, saying it was “open to all possibilities.”
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will form an investigative committee of outside experts to determine the cause of the accident.
Earlier in the day, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office said a special team of four prosecutors and six investigators would look into the accident to determine its cause and identify those responsible.
The investigations by government agencies began after police, the National Forensic Service and other related agencies conducted a joint forensic examination of the accident site from midnight to 4am.
Part of the overpass, which was being demolished, collapsed at around 2.31pm Tuesday, killing three men, identified as the chief supervisor of an engineering company, the site manager and an outside expert. Three other construction workers were injured.
Authorities are still calculating the property damage caused by the accident.
The government is looking into whether there were any safety violations related to the demolition work and whether warning signs had been ignored.
Officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the construction company could face criminal charges if investigators find violations of safety manuals or safety laws, police said.
While the investigation is still ongoing, some experts told local media that signs of possible structural damage may have appeared in the early hours of Tuesday.
The aging overpass had been in use for decades since it was built in 1966. The city began work to tear down and rebuild it last year. It was scheduled to be fully demolished later this year and reconstructed by 2028.
Seoul government said Wednesday that it had asked the Labour Ministry, from which all major demolition work must receive approval, to authorize an emergency demolition of the overpass, expected to take 40 hours.
Demolition work had previously been carried out for only three hours a day for less than 20 days a month, but the new plan is to conduct around-the-clock work to remove most of the remaining structure as quickly as possible.
Accident causes massive disruption
The Transport Ministry said its goal is to complete restoration work as early as Friday and resume full train operations on Saturday.
Railway services in the Seoul area were disrupted after debris fell onto tracks and damaged power lines between Seoul Station and Sinchon Station, leading to the suspension or rerouting of 131 trains.
Korail said 80.8 per cent of trains were operating normally as of Wednesday morning.
KTX services between Seoul and Haengsin Station in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, have been suspended due to repair work.
Several KTX trains have also been rerouted, including those on the Gyeongbu and Honam lines, which connect Seoul to southern cities including Busan and Mokpo. Services on the Gyeongjeon, Donghae and Jeolla lines have also been suspended or rerouted.
Korail has temporarily required some KTX trains to stop at all stations, including those they normally pass through. Mugunghwa trains on the Gyeongbu Line are operating only between Daejeon and Busan, with changes also affecting other lines.
To ease overcrowding at Seoul Station, passengers originally headed to Haengsin are being advised to use alternative routes.
Korail said full train operations will resume after repairs by the city government are completed and safety checks on facilities and power supply systems are finished. - The Korea Herald/ANN
