One person has been killed after a massive sinkhole opened up in Seoul, the fire department said yesterday, with harrowing video footage showing the moment his vehicle was swallowed by the hole.
The vast hole opened up at an intersection in the southeast of the South Korean capital during the evening rush hour at about 6:30pm on Monday.
Dashcam footage from a local lawmaker shows the hole appearing abruptly in the middle of a busy street, with a motorbike being swallowed up instantly as a car narrowly escapes the same fate, sliding into the hole, before somehow bouncing out.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The fire department conducted a major search, with rescue workers wearing wetsuits and “digging with their hands” alongside a rescue dog, in a frantic 17-hour hunt for the motorcyclist.
BODY DISCOVERED
However, yesterday “the missing person, who is in his 30s, was discovered in cardiac arrest, approximately 50m from the center line of the sinkhole,” said Kim Chang-seop, an official from Gangdong Fire Station.
“He was buried at a depth of approximately 90cm and was found intact, still wearing his helmet and motorcycle boots,” Kim said, adding that the fire department “regrets that we are unable to deliver better news.”
The driver of the car suffered minor injuries.
The hole is now about 20m wide and 20m deep, the fire department said.
A handful of schools nearby closed yesterday citing safety concerns.
METRO CONSTRUCTION
The cause of the sinkhole is to be investigated, but the accident occurred at a site where extension work for a metro line was underway.
A Seoul city spokesperson said that it was clear the construction could have been one of “several possible contributing factors.”
“There were several factors at play. Once the surrounding soil and debris are cleared, we will conduct a full investigation into the cause of the accident with a team of experts,” the spokesperson said.
Sinkhole accidents are rare in South Korea, with fewer than 200 reported cases every year on average — significantly less than the number recorded in neighboring Japan.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
RSS