Following the Seosomun overpass collapse in Seoul that resulted in six casualties in May, the government has confirmed safety management violations and referred the case to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for investigation involving the city of Seoul, Korail, and the construction and supervision companies.
On August 14, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it had requested an investigation into charges of negligent homicide and obstruction of business against the relevant parties based on the results of a recent inspection of the overpass demolition work.
From June 4 to June 19, the ministry conducted inspections in collaboration with the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, uncovering multiple violations.
The investigation revealed that the construction and supervision companies conducted safety inspections without Korail's approval at the time of the incident. They also fabricated documents to falsely indicate that they had received approval for a 'S9 slab overturn prevention installation' that was not included in the original work plan, and deployed 13 workers on-site instead of the four specified in the agreement.
Additionally, issues were found with the safety measures taken by the city of Seoul prior to the accident. The city was supposed to halt construction immediately in case of an emergency, notify the Korea Railroad Corporation and Korail, and request a suspension of train operations. However, despite being informed of a 2.9 cm height difference that led to the bridge collapse, the city failed to take any significant action before the incident.
Korail also did not identify discrepancies in the work details during the railway operation safety consultation process. The basic work plan included work on sections S8 and P7, but the safety consultation submitted on the day of the collapse listed work on section S9, where the collapse occurred. Korail proceeded with the consultation without verifying this discrepancy.
Separately, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issued two corrective orders and four improvement recommendations to the Korea Railroad Corporation and Korail. These include enhancing the review of safety management plans for high-risk work and improving procedures to ensure consistency between work plans and actual work conducted during railway operation safety consultations.
Cho Seong-kyun, director of railway safety policy at the ministry, stated, "The Seosomun overpass collapse could have been mitigated if the approval procedures had been followed. We will rigorously identify accountability through the investigation of the relevant agencies."
Earlier in May, part of the overpass collapsed during demolition in the Migeun-dong area of Seodaemun-gu, resulting in three fatalities and three injuries.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.