Garbage Truck Accident Apparently Causes Deadly Fire that Killed 5 on Expressway in Seoul
I have driven on this expressway many times and it is amazing that apparently an accident with a garbage truck caused a fire this big:
At least five people were killed and 37 others injured, three of them seriously, Thursday in a noise-barrier tunnel fire along an expressway in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, fire authorities said.
The blaze was reported to have occurred at 1:49 p.m. inside the noise tunnel in Gwacheon along the Second Gyeongin Expressway that connects the western port city of Incheon to Seongnam City, the authorities said.
Fire authorities initially announced the fire started after a collision between a bus and a garbage truck but later said they would need further investigation to determine the exact cause, leaving open the possibility that the truck alone may have been responsible for the deadly blaze.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Sincere condolences to the families affected. Absolutely tragic any time of year; but somehow more so during the holidays.
Will be interested to learn if this accident prompts the government to evaluate standards for trucks that share the highways with passenger cars and busses.
And maybe certain cargoes should not be allowed in tunnels.
The “tunnel” is actually a plastic covering designed to keep noise from the passing vehicles within the road.
The problem is the plastic itself is flammable and the flames from the garbage truck is like lightning a match in the middle of a gas station filled with gasoline fumes.
It looks like the planners and engineers didn’t put much thought into the possibility that something like this would happen and/or probably used a flammable material without much fireproofing to cut down on costs.
In any case, it doesn’t reflect well on Korean civil engineering practices.