Police search and seizure of road manager
Securing manuals and electronic information related to disaster prevention facilities
2 J-Kyungin officials charged with manslaughter
On the 29th of last month, the police investigating the soundproof tunnel fire accident on the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, where five people died, started a compulsory investigation, including seizure and search of the road manager.
According to the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency on the 6th, the Soundproof Tunnel Fire Incident Investigation Headquarters conducted a search and seizure of the ‘2nd Gyeongin Expressway Co., Ltd.’, which is the main body for managing fire roads in Gwacheon, from 3:30 pm to 8:30 pm the previous day.
The investigation headquarters put in 22 investigators to secure various manuals and electronic information related to disaster prevention facilities from the company.
The police plan to check whether the measures taken at the time of the accident were done properly through analysis of the confiscated items.
A police official said, “We plan to check the appropriateness of the measures taken at the time of the accident through the analysis of the confiscated items.”
Previously, the police charged two people involved with the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway with criminal charges of manslaughter. The police determined that they were responsible for not taking proper follow-up measures following the fire.
The fire first broke out on the 29th of last month at 1:49 pm in a truck carrying 5 tons of waste passing through the soundproof tunnel of the Galhyeon Overpass in the direction of Seongnam on the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway in Galhyeon-dong, Gwacheon-si.
The truck driver stopped on the shoulder of the road when the fire broke out, and the flames spread to the sound barrier next door. And it spread to the entire soundproof tunnel, which is vulnerable to fire.
The fire burned 600m of the 830m soundproof tunnel. Five people died and 41 were injured as a result. Three of the injured are in serious condition.
As a result of the police investigation, it was confirmed that among the tunnel entrance blocking facilities installed on both sides of the road at the time of the fire, only the blocking facilities in the direction from Anyang to Seongnam were operating normally, and the facilities in the opposite direction to Anyang were not operating.
Reporter Kim Hyeon-deok, Hankyung.com khd9987@hankyung.com
