Gatekeeper Missing After Opening Floodgate in Heavy Rain Found Dead

A sluice gate manager who went missing while managing sluice gates during heavy rain was eventually found dead.

According to the Jeonnam Fire Headquarters on the 29th, Mr. A (67) was found under the bridge pier upstream of the pump station, about 1 km from the accident site, at around 10:40 a.m. that day.

The rescue team conducting a night search to find the missing person.
[Photo by Jeonnam Fire Headquarters]

Mr. A went out with his husband at around 10:30 p.m. on the 27th to check the sluice gates of Eomdacheon agricultural waterway.

Mr. A and his husband worked as sluice gate managers commissioned by the Korea Rural Community Corporation. On that day, heavy rain caused river water to overflow, raising concerns about flooding of nearby farmland, prompting them to open the sluice gates.

The fire authorities set the search area into eight sections from the initial missing location to Hampyeongcheon Bridge and conducted a joint search with the police and local governments.

They deployed helicopters, rubber boats, drones, and also used diving searches along with underwater search dogs.

Over three days since the accident, 974 personnel including fire fighters, volunteer fire brigades, and police, along with 99 pieces of equipment, were mobilized for all-out search activities, and on that day, the search area was expanded to 12 sections up to the Yeongsangang estuary.

Hong Young-geun, the head of the headquarters, said, “We pray for the deceased’s soul and will do our best in summer surveillance activities to prevent similar incidents.”

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