Rising Water and Reverse Evacuation... The Moment of Osong Underpass Flooding

8 Deaths Confirmed by Morning of 16th
Black Box Footage from the Time Released
"If It Had Been Even Seconds Later, the Informant Would Also Be at Risk"

A video filmed at the Osong Underpass in Chungbuk, where 8 people have died as of the morning of the 16th due to vehicles being trapped by flooding caused by heavy rain the previous day, has been released. The footage captures the shocking scene of vehicles hastily evacuating as water rapidly rises.

On that day, a post titled "Barely Escaping Before Water Flooded Osong Underpass" was uploaded to an online community. It included a dashcam video uploaded to a YouTube channel, filmed around 8:30 AM the previous day before the underpass was flooded.

[Photo by YouTube channel capture]

The video shows the water quickly rising inside the underpass. As the vehicle approached the underpass exit, the water level was already rising. The closer to the exit, the higher the water level became, and even after passing the exit, the vehicle's speed significantly decreased due to the water flowing across the road.

Meanwhile, cars were entering the underpass from the opposite entrance. Some vehicles near the entrance had their hazard lights on and stopped.

Water accumulating in the Gungpyeong 2 Underpass in Osong, Cheongju.
[Photo source=BobaeDream capture]

The wheels of a large sports utility vehicle (SUV) running just ahead of the vehicle in question were completely submerged. This water was pushed toward the underpass, but both the dashcam vehicle and the vehicle ahead exited the flooded section around 8:31 AM.

Netizens reacted to the video saying, "That was truly a split-second moment... If they had been even a few tens of seconds later, they would have been in danger." They also expressed hope for the safety of the cars entering from the opposite side.

At a similar time, another driver escaped the scene by driving in reverse. This driver entered the Gungpyeong 2nd Underpass but turned the car around after noticing the water rapidly rising inside the underpass.

According to a video the driver submitted to KBS, after entering the underpass, the driver's vehicle was blocked by a bus with its hazard lights on and could not move forward. At that moment, water was rapidly rising on the right side of the road, visible to the naked eye.

The driver thought it was dangerous and quickly turned the car around. They shouted to warn the vehicles behind and reversed out of the underpass. However, vehicles unaware of the rising water continued to enter the underpass.

Earlier, around 8:40 AM the previous day, the Gungpyeong 2nd Underpass in Osong-eup, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju City, was suddenly flooded by rapidly rising water, submerging 15 vehicles including city buses. This occurred just about 10 minutes after the dashcam vehicle barely escaped the tunnel.

As of 12:30 PM, 8 people have died in this accident. The fire department deployed divers around 6 AM that day to begin a full-scale search. The number of fatalities is expected to rise as the search continues.

On the 16th, 119 rescue workers are recovering a missing person found deceased at the Gungpyeong 2 Underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju-si, Chungbuk, which was flooded due to the collapse of the Miho River embankment. Photo by Yonhap News

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