Police have launched an investigation into the rear-end collisions on the Seosan-Yeongdeok Expressway in Sangju, North Gyeongsang, that left 13 people dead or injured.
According to police on the 11th, the Sangju Police Station in North Gyeongsang is under investigation into the sequence and cause of the crash that occurred the day before. They said they are at the stage of piecing together the circumstances based on dashcam footage and driver statements.
At about 6:10 a.m. on the 10th near the Namsangju interchange on the Seosan-Yeongdeok Expressway, a cargo truck crash occurred toward Yeongdeok, and then at about 6:35 a.m., a multi-vehicle pileup also occurred in succession in the opposite direction toward Cheongju. The two crashes left five people dead and eight injured.
In the Yeongdeok-bound lanes, after a single-vehicle cargo truck crash, four vehicles following behind collided in a chain-reaction crash, killing one person, and then a five-vehicle pileup occurred nearby, leaving seven with minor injuries.
In the Cheongju-bound lanes, after a trailer caused the first crash, a chain-reaction collision involving nine vehicles, including passenger cars following behind, left four people dead and one injured.
In connection with the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) not pre-spraying de-icer at the time of the crashes, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport decided to launch a separate audit. According to road snow removal guidelines, when there is a forecast of possible black ice or when it starts to rain with an air temperature at 4 degrees or lower and a road surface temperature at 2 degrees or lower, de-icer must be applied in advance.