Search and Stabilization Efforts Intensify on Sixth Day of Missing Persons in Gwangju Apartment Collapse

Concurrent Installation Work of 1200t-Class Crane for Tower Crane Dismantling

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] On the sixth day of the collapse accident at a newly built apartment in Gwangju on the 16th, all-out efforts are underway to search for the remaining missing persons.

The Accident Response Integrated Headquarters began search operations around 7:30 a.m. with safety checks at the site, deploying eight rescue dogs and their handlers, as well as drones.

About an hour later, 17 members of Rescue Team 1 were dispatched to the site.

On this day, 209 rescue workers and 47 pieces of equipment, including buried victim detection devices, unmanned excavators, and endoscopic cameras, were deployed for the search.

The headquarters plans to remove remaining materials such as rebar and concrete while conducting searches for missing persons on all floors of the building, including the underground levels.

The assembly of a 1,200-ton dismantling crane brought in to dismantle the tower crane is also scheduled to be completed within the day.

The tilted tower crane was judged to pose a risk of further collapse, leading to the decision to dismantle it.

The crane, brought in by Hyundai Development Company, the contractor of the collapsed apartment, from Gunsan, Jeonbuk, arrived in several parts, and local reinforcement work to secure the crane is currently underway.

The tower crane dismantling will be carried out from the top, removing about half of it. The dismantling work is planned to be completed by the 21st.

Earlier, at around 3:46 p.m. on the 11th, the outer wall of floors 23 to 38 of Building 201 of Hwajeong-dong I-Park, under construction by Hyundai Development Company in Gwangju, collapsed.

As a result of this accident, one person was slightly injured and transported to a hospital, and six people went missing. Among the missing, one person was found dead near the basement level 1 stairs on the afternoon of the 14th, four days after the accident, and search operations are ongoing to find the other five.

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