At Uiwang Station on the Gyeongbu Line in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, a Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) employee in his 50s who was performing a shunting operation to consolidation and separate freight cars was crushed by a train and died.
According to the Seoul Railway Special Judicial Police and fire authorities on the 29th, at about 7:20 a.m. that day, a KORAIL employee, identified only as A, was crushed by a vehicle during a shunting operation within the Uiwang Station yard. Fire authorities responded to the scene, but A was already dead.
A is presumed to have been acting as a "shunter," communicating with the engineer by radio near the tracks, when the accident occurred. Passenger trains passing through Uiwang Station are operating normally, and shunting operations have been suspended.
The Seoul Railway Special Judicial Police and the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) plan to check whether safety rules, including two-person team operations at the time, were properly followed and to investigate the exact cause of the accident.
KORAIL said, "We express our deep regret over this accident," adding, "We will proceed with follow-up measures with the utmost respect in accordance with prescribed procedures."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also said that morning that it would identify the cause of the accident, take stern measures, and prepare measures to strengthen safety.