The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 11th that it has established an accident response headquarters to manage the collapse of the underground tunnel construction site for the Sinansan Line in Gwangmyeong.
According to the Ministry, the accident occurred around 3 p.m. on the 11th at the underground tunnel construction site for section 5-2 of the Sinansan Line near Iljik-dong in Gwangmyeong. As the tunnel structure collapsed during construction, a portion of the road sank, resulting in an estimated 2 individuals being buried. It has been determined that 1 person is isolated and 1 person is missing.
The day before the accident, around 10 p.m. on the 10th, cracks in the structure were already detected at the site, leading to the suspension of construction and evacuation of personnel. Furthermore, from 1 a.m. on the 11th, the road above the accident site has been fully closed.
This incident is a major accident that occurred just a month and a half after the highway bridge collapse incident that happened in Anseong on February 25.
Immediately after the accident, the Ministry established an accident response headquarters with Deputy Minister Park Sang-woo as the head. NextTrain Co., Ltd., the project implementer, also set up a separate accident recovery headquarters to respond. The head of the Ministry's Railway Bureau and the chairman of the Korea National Railway Authority also arrived at the scene shortly after the accident to assess the situation.
Minister Park Sang-woo said, "We will do our best to minimize casualties and will cooperate with relevant agencies, including the Korea National Fire Agency, the Korean National Police Agency, Gwangmyeong City, and the Korea National Railway Authority, to ensure the best response to the accident site."