3 workers trapped at work site

A disastrous collapse of concrete and steel at the construction site for the restoration/repair work over the Yoi-eu-chun, a riverlet in the Seocho area of Seoul, has trapped three men under the rubble.

The accident occurred around 3:40 p.m. July 24 as the three men, Lee Jae-Shik, Kim Jung-Ki and Lee Jong-Yoon, were working under the surface platform. Columns at the site near the Yangjae Interchange in Won-ji-dong.

"I was about 20 meters behind the three men who went under the surface,¡± a witness said. ¡°ll of a sudden, a loud sound accompanied the collapse of the 45-centimeter-thick platform and the rubble. I turned and escaped."

Emergency rescue workers and the police have mobilized seven heavy fork-cranes and have been removing the rubble from the collapse of about 80 columns and the surface platform. However, those at the site feel it will be a miracle for the men to have survived the collapse.