During the Liberation Day holiday, a landslide in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, resulted in the death of a man in his 20s due to record heavy rainfall.
According to the Geoje Fire Department and police, the landslide occurred around 4:40 a.m. near an apartment complex in Okpo-dong. Soil and debris cascaded down, burying residents in the lower floors of the building.
Emergency responders rescued three residents from the buried apartment. One man in his 20s was found in cardiac arrest and was transported to a hospital, where he later died. The other two residents were successfully rescued. Fire authorities continued search operations to determine if there were additional victims.
This incident occurred amid record rainfall in Geoje, which saw over 700 millimeters of rain during the three-day Liberation Day holiday, with more than 400 millimeters falling between the night of August 16 and the early morning of August 17.
Some areas experienced rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters per hour. Fire authorities reported that the intense downpour weakened the ground, leading to the landslide.
The heavy rain caused flooding and landslide damage across Geoje. Debris blocked roads, restricting access in some areas, while low-lying regions experienced flooding of roads and homes. The city of Geoje restricted access to areas affected by landslides, including the Myeongjin Tunnel and the Sinhyun 1 Bridge intersection.
Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the landslide and the extent of the damage, as the ground has been significantly weakened by the overnight downpour.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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