Child Buried Under Ice Rescued Barehanded... Off-Duty Firefighter Saves Citizen in 'Snow Sledding Site Collapse'

Chungbuk Fire Headquarters Fire Sergeant Kwon Minho
"A Natural Duty as a Firefighter"

A story has recently come to light about a firefighter who was visiting a snow sledding facility in Cheongju with his family on Christmas Eve and rescued citizens during a structural collapse accident.

According to the Chungbuk Fire Headquarters on the 26th, Fire Sergeant Kwon Min-ho (41), affiliated with the Chungbuk Safety Experience Center, visited the snow sledding facility at the Agricultural Technology Center in Jibuk-dong, Sangdang-gu, Cheongju City, with his elementary school-aged son and wife on the 24th. He witnessed a loud rumbling noise followed by the collapse of a vinyl greenhouse-type passageway.

At the time, Sergeant Kwon was in another passageway next to the collapsed one, where four citizens were trapped under the debris right behind him. Sergeant Kwon immediately, along with other citizens, helped pull the trapped individuals out. Following his wife's urgent shout that "there are more people," he moved toward the upper part of the collapsed passageway.

Cheongju Snow Sledding Facility Collapse Site. / Yonhap News

There, a young-looking boy was found unconscious, foaming at the mouth, trapped under a pile of ice about the size of an adult torso and metal structures. Sergeant Kwon, together with other citizens, removed the ice block and rescued the boy. He then entrusted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a citizen and went on to search for other citizens in urgent need of rescue.

Nearby, another citizen was found unconscious with a face turned pale blue, crushed under debris. Sergeant Kwon said, "It seems he was rescued later than others and had difficulty breathing for a long time." He added, "After performing CPR, the person quickly regained consciousness, but we almost missed the golden time," describing the critical situation.

The boy and the woman rescued by Sergeant Kwon were two patients classified as seriously injured at the time. They were found unconscious but recovered before the fire authorities arrived.

Fire Sergeant Kwon Min-ho, Chungbuk Fire Headquarters. / Provided by Chungbuk Fire Headquarters

Sergeant Kwon said, "I just did what was natural as a firefighter," and expressed gratitude to the citizens who followed instructions well, such as not climbing on the debris due to the risk of crushing, and who worked hard together in the rescue efforts as much as they could.

At around 4:29 p.m. on the 24th, the vinyl greenhouse-type passageway at this snow sledding facility collapsed, trapping about ten people, and three seriously injured individuals were transported to the hospital.

Authorities believe that the artificial snow spread over the snow sledding facility accumulated on top of the vinyl greenhouse-type passageway, causing it to collapse under the weight.

This snow sledding facility is operated by a private entity commissioned by Cheongju City and had the accident just one day after opening on the 23rd.

The police conducted on-site investigations on the day of the accident and the following day, and recently summoned the representative of the snow sledding facility operator as a witness for questioning, continuing to investigate the exact cause of the accident.

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