◀ anchor ▶
Yesterday, an elementary school student crossing a crosswalk in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, was hit by an excavator and lost his life.
The scene at the time of the accident was captured on video of the excavator ignoring the stop sign and rushing into the crosswalk.
Reporter Kim Hyeon-ji reported.
◀ Report ▶
Yesterday followingnoon, in front of an elementary school in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do.
After the intersection, the excavator proceeds straight to the crosswalk without slowing down.
The traffic light has a red light and a left turn signal, but it just passed.
Moments later, children hit by an excavator are seen lying on the crosswalk.
However, the excavator disappears as it is, and a citizen who witnessed the accident runs in surprise.
[목격자]
“I was stopping the signal there. I thought (the excavator) would stop, but I’m going to hit it here and just go.”
An ambulance arrived, but one student was killed and another was seriously injured.
The blue light came on and I just crossed the crosswalk, but I was in an unexpected disaster.
[오윤진/학부모]
“It’s so heartbreaking because I’m in the position of raising a child. I feel the need for a strong crackdown right now.”
In front of the accident site, flowers and sweets are placed to commemorate the child.
After class, the children went home and placed a chrysanthemum flower one by one.
A burial place for the deceased child was set up at a nearby hospital.
The mother, who came to Korea as a marriage emigration from Vietnam and struggled to raise her daughter, burst into anger, demanding that the driver be severely punished.
[누엔티 황눙/피해 학생 어머니]
“Please change the law to be stronger like this. I hope that poor children like our daughter do not occur.”
However, the police applied for an arrest warrant for the driver, applying only the charges of violating the Traffic Accident Handling Special Act and the Road Traffic Act.
Neither the ‘Minshik Act’, which severely punishes deaths in child protection zones, nor provisions for punishing hit-and-run deaths were not applied.
This is because excavators are not included in the 11 types of construction equipment that are recognized as automobiles under the Road Traffic Act.
The police also asked the Road Traffic Authority to analyze whether the excavator was speeding beyond the 30 km/h speed limit in the child protection zone.
This is Kim Hyun-ji from MBC News.
Video coverage and editing: Dongwon Wi
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