Seohaean Expressway Rear-End Collision Causes Severe Traffic Jam... Seohae Waterway Closed

'Nun-gil' Seohaean Expressway Multi-Vehicle Collision Involving Over 10 Cars
1 Person in Cardiac Arrest, 5 Injured

Incidents and accidents are occurring one after another due to the cold wave and heavy snowfall.

According to Yonhap News, at around 3:30 a.m. on the 21st, about 10 vehicles including a cargo truck and an express bus collided consecutively at the 229 km mark on the Seohaean Expressway heading towards Seoul in Sinpyeong-myeon, Dangjin-si, Chungnam. As a result of the accident, one bus driver was transported to the hospital in a state of cardiac arrest, and five others were injured. Severe traffic congestion is occurring in this section due to the aftermath of the accident.

The police are investigating the exact cause of the accident, believing that the bus slid on the snowy road and collided with a cargo truck, after which about 10 vehicles following behind caused a chain collision.

The scene at the time of the accident near Sinpyeong-myeon on the Seohaean Expressway, where a 10-vehicle pileup occurred that morning. [Image provided by Korea Expressway Corporation]

Also, due to worsening weather conditions in the West Sea, passenger ship operations on 10 out of 15 routes connecting Incheon and the islands have been suspended. As of 6:10 a.m., a high wave warning has been issued for the waters in front of Incheon and the open sea, where waves of 2 to 3 meters and strong winds of around 15 m/s are blowing.

Operations of 12 passenger ships on 10 routes, including Incheon?Baengnyeongdo and Incheon?Deokjeokdo, have been suspended. The remaining 5 passenger ships on 4 routes, such as Yeongjongdo Sammok?Jangbongdo, are operating normally. The ferry on the Incheon?Jeju route, which has been suspended since April due to engine defects, remains out of service today as well.

Meanwhile, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of 11 p.m. the previous day, there were a total of 72 cases of meter freezing accidents: 26 in Seoul, 37 in Gyeonggi, and 3 in Incheon. Among these, 45 cases have been restored, and the rest are in progress.

So far, no casualties have been confirmed, but five cold-related illness cases occurred on the 19th, increasing the cumulative number of patients to 81 since the 1st of this month. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety upgraded the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters from Level 1 to Level 2 at 8 p.m. on the 20th and raised the heavy snow crisis alert level from ‘Caution’ to ‘Warning.’

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