Gwangju Collapse Accident... Tower Crane Dismantling Work to Begin Soon Due to 'Risk of Additional Accidents'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The dismantling work of the tower crane, which poses an additional accident risk at the collapse site of Hwajeong I-Park in Gwangju, will soon begin.

On the 16th, the Accident Response Integrated Headquarters (Response Headquarters) plans to complete the assembly of a 1200-ton dismantling crane for dismantling the tower crane leaning against the collapsed building.

Earlier, the apartment contractor HDC Hyundai Development Company transported the dismantling crane from Gunsan, Jeonbuk, and assembly has been underway for the past two days. The dismantling crane, approximately 120 meters tall, will be deployed on-site on the 17th after ground reinforcement.

The Response Headquarters judged that the approximately 140-meter tall tower crane poses a high risk of collapse, so full-scale search for missing persons has not been conducted on the upper floors of the building. This tower crane was tilted and connected to the building after some of its fixing devices fell off during the apartment collapse.

The work to dismantle about half of the tilted tower crane from the top is expected to be completed by the 21st. After removing the building debris with a risk of falling, a full-scale search and rescue operation for missing persons will be conducted inside the 23rd to 38th floors where the collapse occurred.

Earlier, at around 3:46 p.m. on the 11th, the outer wall of the 23rd to 38th floors of Building 201 at the Hwajeong I-Park new construction site collapsed, resulting in the death of one worker and five missing persons. They are presumed to have been responsible for window and fire-fighting equipment installation work on the 28th to 34th floors of the collapsed building.