Three people were killed and three others injured after an aging overpass under demolition partially collapsed in the South Korean capital, Seoul, according to fire officials.
SEOUL, South Korea — Three people were killed and three others injured Tuesday when a decades‑old overpass being demolished in Seoul partially collapsed, fire officials reported.
The incident occurred during a safety inspection after workers stopped demolition work upon noticing that a section of the structure had slightly sunk while cutting concrete slabs, said Lee Jong‑woon, an official at Seoul’s Seodaemun District Fire Station. Victims were crushed by debris and wreckage following the sudden collapse of a bridge deck section, officials added.
Police and emergency responders cordoned off the area, where twisted steel beams and shattered concrete slabs hung precariously from the overpass’s edge.
Debris also fell onto a nearby railway, prompting the Korea Railroad Corporation to suspend some services to Seoul Station.
Constructed in 1966, the overpass had been undergoing demolition since August of last year amid safety concerns.
