Further ground instability discovered near sinkhole on Seoul road

Two traffic lanes were closed in Yeonhui-dong in western Seoul on Friday morning after traffic authorities discovered additional road subsidence near a 2.5-meter-deep (8.2-foot-deep) sinkhole that appeared a day earlier.

Road authorities control traffic in Yeonhui-dong in Seodaemun District, western Seoul on Friday morning after additional road subsidence was discovered near a sinkhole that appeared a day earlier. [YONHAP]

Two traffic lanes were closed in Yeonhui-dong in western Seoul on Friday morning after traffic authorities discovered additional road subsidence near a 2.5-meter-deep (8.2-foot-deep) sinkhole that appeared a day earlier.

According to the city’s traffic control authority, officials detected the ground sinking at around 8:40 a.m. on roads leading to Sacheon Bridge. The site is located at Yeonhui-dong 420-1 in Seodaemun District.

The road subsidence — when a section of a road can sink or collapse, usually because the ground underneath has weakened — was found approximately 30 meters away from the sinkhole, which measured six meters in width and four meters in length. The sinkhole swallowed an SUV and injured two passengers in the vehicle on Thursday.

First responders oversee a site where a sudden road sinkhole swallowed a Tivoli SUV in Seodaemun District, western Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Both passengers were transported to a hospital.

A female passenger in her 70s was found in a state of cardiac arrest and is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital. A report from the JoongAng Ilbo indicated that she remains unconscious, although her pulse returned after receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The driver, in his 80s, was taken to the National Medical Center in the same district due to rib injuries.

On Friday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and fire authorities investigated the cause of the ground subsidence, considering the possibility that construction work on a pipe connected to a rainwater pump station had weakened the underground. The underground pipes are buried at a depth of 12 meters below the road’s surface.

An official from the traffic authority said they are currently “inspecting the details of the subsided roads.” The district office advised people to take detours or use alternative routes, as traffic is congested in the area where the sinkhole appeared and road subsidence was discovered.

BY CHO MOON-GYU [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]