- An underground subway tunnel in South Korea that was under construction collapsed on April 11, leaving several workers trapped nearly 100 feet underground
- Officials rescued one of the workers on April 12 using a crane after he was trapped below the surface for 13 hours
- City officials had ordered workers to withdraw from the site in Gwangmyeong near Seoul after it was reported that a ventilation shaft was at risk of collapsing
Rescue workers in South Korea have saved a man who was trapped inside the rubble of a collapsed subway construction site for over half a day.
Im Gwang-sik, a Gwangmyeong Fire Department official, said that the man was trapped nearly 100 feet underground for 13 hours after the subway tunnel collapsed on Friday, April 11, according to the Associated Press.
The man was conscious when rescue workers got to him on Saturday, April 12, the official noted, and he was quickly taken to a nearby hospital. Officials are continuing to search for another person that is believed to be trapped inside, per the AP.
The Korea Herald reported that one of the men trapped underground was an excavator operator who was able to briefly communicate with rescue workers by phone.
The tunnel in Gwangmyeong, located about 8 miles southwest of Seoul, had been under construction, but officials had ordered workers to withdraw from the site and stopped traffic from coming through the area after it was reported that a ventilation shaft was at risk of collapsing, the AP reported.
Dozens of rescue workers are working on the incident, per the AP, and authorities are using three separate cranes to search for the last missing worker.
According to the Herald, the tunnel first collapsed at around 3:13 p.m. on Friday, causing the road above it to collapse as well.
A total of 17 workers — including the man that was rescued — were on site for a safety inspection at the time of the collapse, after they received reports about the land near the construction site caving in, the Herald reported. At around 12:30 a.m. local time on Saturday morning, the workers reported that there was a tunnel support failure about 98 feel underground and “suspicious sounds” were coming from the site.
The Herald also reported that authorities could not immediately reach 5 of the 17 workers following the collapse, but three of the men were confirmed safe soon after.
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Authorities have also said that the smell of gas near the tunnel collapse is complicating the rescue efforts, and they have asked the Korea Gas Safety Corporation to turn off supply to a nearby pipeline, per the Herarld.
“The rescue operation is likely to take considerable time,” one official said.
According to the outlet, Gwangmyeong is a densely populated city in Gyeonggi Province and is considered a part of the greater Seoul metropolitan area. The nearby roads have been closed to cars, and authorities are still investigating what exactly caused the collapse.
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