▲ Scene at the site
At a highway construction site in Cheonan, Chungnam, a bridge collapsed during connection work, resulting in casualties among eight workers.
Today (25th) at 9:49 AM, five 50-meter-long steel beams supporting a bridge in the Ansan-Yongin section of the Seoul-Sejong Expressway collapsed in sequence during connection work in the area of Dorim-ri 54-4, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan.
In this incident, eight workers who were working underneath the bridge were buried, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.
The steel beams were a part of several beams installed on the deck placed over the piers. The accident reportedly happened while the beams were being moved onto another pier using a crane.
Police and fire authorities are conducting rescue operations at the scene.
The Seoul-Sejong Expressway, with a total length of 134 km, is divided into two sections: the metropolitan area (Anseong-Guri, total length 72 km) and the non-metropolitan area (Sejong-Anseong, including the Osong branch, 62 km).
The metropolitan section opened on January 1st, and the entire Sejong-Anseong section is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
(Photo provided by a reader, Yonhap News)