Building collapses during demolition works

Nine people were killed and eight others were injured when the ‘Hakdong’ building collapsed in South Korea. Image courtesy of Reuters

The ‘Hakdong’ building, situated in the Dong-gu area, suffered a complete structural failure on the afternoon on 9 June and collapsed onto a stationary city bus below.

Currently nine people are believed to have died in the incident, with media organisations reporting a further eight reported as injured.

The scale of the disaster, the cause of which is as yet unknown, saw the depoyment of roughly 190 firefighters. A disaster situation room was also set up nearby to deal with the crisis.

Yon-Hak-chul, the South Korean Minister of Public Administrations and Security Minister, visited the collapsed ‘Hakdong’ building on the night of the incident.

South Korean Minister of Public Administrations and Security, Yon-Hak-chul, inspects the bus that was crushed by the collapse of the building

He inspected the site and helped coordinate the search and rescue efforts, which are still ongoing, of the emergency services.

While the name of the contractor undertaking the demolition works has not been revealed by the country’s Ministry of Public Administration, none of the company’s demolition team have so far been reported as being among the victims.

The next day the country’s head of disaster safety management at the Ministry of Public Administration, Kim Hee-kyum, held a second emergency inspection and meeting at the site.

Fire, police and government officials involved in the incident’s rescue and clean-up operations were present at the meeting, alongside labourers and infrastructure and transport personnel.

Kim Hee-Kyum also visited the Situation Room in Dong-gu, “to conduct an emergency field countermeasures meeting on improvements and opinions related to building collapses”.

Kim Hee-kyum, head of disaster safety management at the Ministry of Public Administration, leads the Situation Room meeting