Authorities busy pointing fingers, while citizens struggled for their lives

“Devastating sight of vehicles that were submerged in the Osong underpass: Five more bodies found, a total of fourteen deaths” On July 17, the police and firefighters inspect the vehicles towed from the Second Gungpyeong Underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju-si in Chungcheongbuk-do, which was flooded due to the downpour causing a large number of casualties. Authorities recovered five more bodies in an all-night search operation, increasing the death count from the tunnel to fourteen. Cheongju, Kwon Do-hyun

The search for missing persons in connection with the flooding of the underpass in Osong, Cheongju in Chungcheongbuk-do, which killed fourteen people, is in its final stages. Yet related authorities--the Chungcheongbuk-do provincial government, the Cheongju-si government and the National Agency for Administrative City Construction--are busy trying to evade responsibility for the latest incident.

On July 17, the Chungbuk Fire Service Headquarter announced that they discovered five more bodies including the last of the twelve people reported missing from the tunnel. Thus, the number of deaths from the latest incident has increased to fourteen. Authorities confirmed that a total of seventeen vehicles were trapped inside the tunnel at the time of the flood.

Chungcheongbuk-do and the fire department pointed to the collapsed embankment for the construction of a new Mihocheon-gyo (Mihogang-gyo) Bridge by the National Agency for Administrative City Construction as the cause of the tragic accident. They argued that a part of the levee located 300-400 meters from the underpass collapsed, allowing the muddy Mihogang River to overflow into the tunnel.

The National Agency for Administrative City Construction is currently overseeing a construction project to widen a 1.2 km stretch of road from Gungpyeong-ri, Osong-eup to Tapyeon-ri, Gangnae-myeon from four to six lanes. From June 29 to July 7, the city construction agency built a temporary embankment ahead of the rainy season. Residents near the construction site raised an allegation that the agency built a weak levee using sand, leading to the latest tragedy.

The Chungcheongbuk-do provincial government and the city of Cheongju contributed to the accident by failing to block the road promptly despite the risk of flooding in the Mihogang River. Yet they were both busy evading responsibility. The Heungdeok-gu district in Cheongju received a notice from the Geumgang River Flood Control Office at around 6:30 a.m. July 15, the day of the accident. “The situation at Mihocheon-gyo Bridge has reached a ‘serious’ level. To prepare for the design flood level (maximum water level tolerated by a levee), follow the guidelines for local governments on the evacuation of residents in low-lying areas and in vulnerable sections and on emergency recovery measures.” The Heungdeok-gu district office delivered the notice to the river department in the Cheongju-si government at 6:36 a.m. that day, as well as to the Cheongju-si safety policy department at 6:39 a.m. But reportedly, the Cheongju-si government did not relay the message to the Chungbuk Road Management Office, which manages the tunnel in Osong. The city did not block access to the tunnel either, because the management of the underpass in question was the jurisdiction of the Chungcheongbuk-do government.

Cheongju-si also ignored a request for action from the fire authority. According to the fire service headquarter, at 7:51 a.m. July 15, about fifty minutes before the accident, they received a report from a person who said, “I think the Mihogang River embankment is going to break down.” Firefighters arrived at the site at 8:03 a.m. and informed the situation room that part of the levee had collapsed and that the Mihogang River was overflowing.

The situation room delivered the news to the officials on duty at the Cheongju-si government, but the Cheongju city government did not inform the Chungcheongbuk-do government, which manages the road, about the situation.

Chungcheongbuk-do is blaming the National Agency for Administrative City Construction, which built the embankment, for the latest accident. The Chungbuk Road Management Office is responsible for decisions on roadblocks. But at the time of the accident, all they did was monitor the situation through a closed-circuit camera installed in the underpass.

People also criticized the police for their lack of action. From 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the day of the accident, the 112 Situation Room of the Chungbuk Provincial Police Agency received nearly a dozen flood-related reports. Among them, there was also a request to block access to a Gungpyeong underpass in Osong.

The police went and inspected the First Gungpyeong Underpass and the Ssangcheong-ri intersection. The Second Gungpyeong Underpass was left out because there were only three officers at the police branch office. By the time the police arrived at the Second Gungpyeong Underpass, it was 9 a.m., twenty minutes after the tragic event.

So far 41 people have died and nine are missing due to the latest heavy downpour. This is the fifth largest number of casualties since 1998.