Police and officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government investigate the collapse of the Seosomun overpass in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The Seoul Metropolitan Government offered its first detailed account Wednesday of how the Seosomun overpass collapsed, as police and prosecutors moved to speed up a probe into whether demolition procedures were properly followed.
At a press briefing, Lim Choon-keun, head of the city government’s infrastructure bureau, expressed condolences to the families of the three people killed and three seriously injured when a span of the 60-year-old overpass crashed down over a railway on Tuesday.
The official outlined the demolition schedule, insisting that earlier design reviews had found no significant issues with the structural stability of the girders under the chosen method.
According to Lim, workers began cutting the S9 slab — the ninth deck segment spanning the railway — at about 1:30 a.m. Roughly an hour later, they detected a deflection of about 29 millimeters between two girders and halted the operation.
By midafternoon, as engineers and officials were back on the span to inspect the damage and discuss whether to shut down road and rail traffic, the structure failed without warning at 2:33 p.m., sending a 15-meter section of the overpass crashing onto the tracks.
Asked why the workers were sent onto a section that had already shown dangerous signs, the official said it was probably difficult to assess the damage from outside.
Lim Choon-keun, head of the city government’s infrastructure bureau, speaks during a press briefing at City Hall in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis
“To check the condition of the girder, the workers may have determined that someone had to go under the slab,” Lim said.
When asked why the city government did not close the road and rail line once the overnight deflection was detected, the official said the afternoon inspection was meant to determine whether such a shutdown was really needed.
Source: Korea Times News
