"One More Minute and I Would Have Died... It Was Instinct," Recalls Survivor of Underground Passage

Dramatic Escape During Osong Underpass Flooding
Fleeing the Road by Driving Against Traffic as Water Poured In

A citizen who successfully escaped by dramatic reverse driving from the Gungpyeong 2nd Underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju-si, Chungbuk, where 17 vehicles were submerged and casualties occurred, recounted the urgent situation at the time, saying, "If I had stayed just one more minute, I would have died."

Gu Min-cheol (55), who survived the underpass flooding accident, said in a phone interview with 'Yonhap News' on the 17th, "The bus in front turned on its hazard lights, so I got out of the car and saw that the puddle was filled with water."

Gu entered the underpass at around 8:30 a.m. on the 15th, when about 80,000 tons of muddy water surged onto the road due to the collapse of the embankment near Miho River.

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

Gu explained the tense situation, saying, "On the uphill lane on the opposite side, several cars were seen turning on their hazard lights and trying to go up. The water was already this high; from what I saw, the water had reached the front wheels of the bus. When I got back into my car, the water had reached the rear wheels. If I hadn’t turned my car around, the water would have reached my car."

He said he had not received any special safety training. Gu recalled, "(The escape) was instinctive. I drove in reverse in the first lane, and other cars followed in the second lane. I rolled down the window and kept signaling them to turn their cars as I drove in reverse."

The escape scenes of Gu and other reverse-driving cars became famous through black box footage uploaded on YouTube and social media. The videos show cars passing through the tunnel, cutting through the muddy water rising from the road surface.

Vehicles escaping the underpass. [Image source = YouTube]

According to the Chungbuk Fire Headquarters, as of the 17th, a total of 14 people were found dead in the underpass. Seventeen vehicles were confirmed to be submerged inside the underpass, and the search and salvage operations inside the vehicles have been completed.

A total of 486 personnel, including police, firefighters, and public officials, were mobilized to drain the water from the underpass and search for missing persons. Eighty-one pieces of equipment, such as large-capacity pumps and excavators, were also deployed.

Meanwhile, the Office for Government Policy Coordination plans to conduct a comprehensive inspection targeting local governments, police, and fire authorities regarding this accident.

In a press release on the same day, the Office stated, "To clarify why traffic control at the Gungpyeong 2nd Underpass was not properly and timely conducted before the accident, we will review related safety measures and investigate various administrative records related to the temporary embankment construction."

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