2 subway workers killed, 2 injured at Guro Station

The Korea Railway Police secure the scene on Friday morning at Guro Station on Seoul Subway Line 1, where a collision between two maintenance vehicles killed two workers and seriously injured a third earlier in the day. (Yonhap)

Two workers were killed and two were injured while performing maintenance on the tracks at Guro Station on Seoul Metro Line No. 1 before dawn Friday, according to fire authorities and Korea Railroad Corporation.

The three Korail workers were on a mobile elevating work platform, doing overhead wire maintenance at a height of 5 to 6 meters, when a track inspection train on an adjacent track collided with it at around 2:21 a.m. local time.

The collision caused the workers to fall, resulting in the deaths of two employees in their early 30s.

Another worker in their 50s suffered a leg fracture and was taken to a nearby hospital, while the track inspection train operator in their 40s sustained a thigh bruise.

All the victims have been confirmed to be Korail employees.

Korail has set up an on-site accident response team and is collaborating with the police to investigate the precise cause of the collision and the accident.

Korail expressed deep regret over the incident, stating, "We will handle the funeral arrangements and all subsequent measures with the highest level of respect and care."

Additionally, the Ministry of Employment and Labor is assessing whether the workplace safety law, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, should be invoked in this case.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also dispatched an emergency response team to the site.

The ministry said, "We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation into the compliance with safety regulations and worker safety protocols such as preventing mutual interference during train maintenance and coming up with measures to prevent any recurrence of such a tragic accident."

As a result of the recovery efforts following the accident, 10 commuter trains and 5 high-speed trains on the Gyeongbu Line were delayed by 10 to 30 minutes until around 5:40 a.m. Train operations have fully resumed without further disruptions since then.

Worker deaths have repeatedly occurred during regular subway and train maintenance in Korea, including the tragic case of a 19-year-old irregular worker of a subcontractor who was killed while working alone to repair a sliding glass door on the platform at Guui Station in 2016. Lacking the proper staff to serve as a lookout, he was crushed when a train pulled in as he was repairing the glass door, sparking widespread public protests demanding better safety measures and improved conditions for workers.

By Ji Da-gyum(dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)