Disassembly of Tower Crane, a Risk Factor in the 'Gwangju Collapse Accident' Search, to Begin on the 21st

All Traffic Blocked Within a 79m Radius Danger Zone from 8 AM to 6 PM

Site of the collapse accident at the newly constructed apartment by Hyundai Development Company. Photo by Gwangju Fire Headquarters

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] It has been 10 days since the Hwajeong I-Park collapse accident in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City. The partial dismantling work of the tower crane, which was a major obstacle to search and rescue operations, has entered the final countdown.

The Accident Response Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as the Headquarters), which includes Gwangju City and others, announced at a regular briefing on the morning of the 20th, "The dismantling of the tower crane will be carried out with the goal of completion by 6 p.m. on the 21st."

The Headquarters plans to designate a 79m radius around the tower crane as a danger zone from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day of dismantling and issue an evacuation order.

The danger zone is set as the Hwajeong I-Park Complex 1 on the east side of the tower crane and the existing residential-commercial complex apartment on the west side where an evacuation order has already been issued. The southern side is a vacant lot for another apartment construction, and the northern side is part of the Gwangcheon-dong General Bus Terminal parking lot.

The Headquarters, together with the police and related agencies, plans to block all people and vehicles from passing through the danger zone except for the tower crane dismantling workers, and search and rescue activities to find missing persons will be suspended during the dismantling work.

After completing the tower crane dismantling, additional safety measures such as exterior wall stabilization will be taken over the weekend, and early next week, precise searches will begin as the rescue team approaches the remaining debris on the upper floors.

Meanwhile, from 7:30 a.m. today until now, 190 personnel, 50 pieces of equipment, and 5 rescue dogs have been deployed at the site for search operations, but no notable findings have been discovered.

The accident occurred around 3:46 p.m. on the 11th when the exterior walls of the 23rd to 38th floors of Building 201 collapsed at the apartment construction site.

As a result, one worker died and five went missing. They are presumed to have been responsible for window and fire-fighting equipment installation work on the 28th to 34th floors of the collapsed building.

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