"At Least Survival Status..." Families of Missing Persons in Gwangju Apartment Collapse 'Pacing Anxiously'

Structural experts deployed for safety inspection... Decision on resuming search not yet made

On the afternoon of the 11th, the exterior wall of the upper floors of one building under construction at Hwajeong I-Park in Seo-gu, Gwangju, collapsed, leaving six workers missing. Their families are waiting for rescue news in a temporary tent.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] "The last time I spoke with him was three days ago, I feel so sorry for our eldest son, what should I do?"

On the morning of the 12th, at the site of the Hwajeong I-Park exterior wall collapse accident in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, the families of the missing rushed over as soon as they heard the news of the accident the day before and stayed up all night with sleepless eyes.

About ten family members of the missing were sitting and waiting in a tent set up near the site. They repeatedly wiped their flowing tears and earnestly hoped to hear news of a rescue as soon as possible.

Currently, the search has been suspended due to concerns that the 140-meter-high tower crane might topple over as a result of the collapse. The Safety Diagnosis Team of the Korea Infrastructure Safety & Technology Corporation, officials from Hyundai Development Company, and rescue experts have been deployed to conduct a safety inspection, and the search is expected to resume depending on the results.

Yoo Sang-seop (81), whose eyes were red and bloodshot, lamented, "I know Hyundai Development Company is good at construction, but after the Hakdong collapse disaster, another accident has occurred this time, so it seems there are many cases of poor construction."

Mr. Yoo expressed his frustration, saying, "I hope the search will definitely proceed today so that we can quickly confirm whether there are survivors. It's useless to talk to the officials, and we can only sit and wait, which is frustrating."

Other family members also expressed their distress, saying things like, "Why can't they enter?" and "They said they would conduct a safety inspection at 8 a.m., but we still don't know what they are doing."

The accident occurred around 3:46 p.m. the previous day, when the exterior walls and structures from the 23rd to the 38th floors collapsed during concrete pouring on the 39th floor rooftop of the apartment construction site.

As a result of this accident, one worker was slightly injured and transported to the hospital, and six workers have been missing.

The police and fire authorities, along with the construction company, have identified the status of all 394 workers (from 22 companies) at the site, and these six workers' mobile phone locations were detected near the construction site, but they have not been contacted.

It is presumed that they were working on window installation and other tasks on the 28th to 31st floors of the building where the exterior walls and structures collapsed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.