70% of Tower Crane Dismantling Completed at Gwangju Apartment Collapse Site... Completion by 22nd

Delay in Stabilization Work Due to 80mm Variation in Adjacent Retaining Wall

Dismantling of Control Room and Three-Stage Counterweights Scheduled for Morning of 22nd

On the afternoon of the 21st, crane dismantling work is underway at the HDC Hyundai Development Company I-Park apartment collapse site in Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] On the 11th day since the collapse accident at Hwajeong I-Park in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, about 70% of the tower crane dismantling work for precise upper-level search was completed on the 21st.

Min Sung-woo, Head of Safety Management at Hyundai Development Company, said at the regular briefing in the afternoon, "More than 70% of the tower crane dismantling work has been completed," adding, "The tower crane stabilization work will be finished today, and the dismantling of the control room and the three counterweight sections is scheduled for tomorrow morning."

The countermeasures headquarters carried out RCS (Rail Climbing System) form movement prevention fixing work using the 1200-ton crane No. 2 in the morning and installed chain blocks to prevent the detachment of the 8-section bracing of the dismantling tower crane.

The front boom dismantling is expected to be completed by 7 p.m. Then, the remaining two of the six counterweight sections will be dismantled to separate the counterweights and the front boom.

Min Sung-woo, Head of Safety at Hyundai Development Company, said, "This day's work had the most risk factors," explaining, "During the process of removing counterweights ranging from 2 tons to as much as 27 tons, tilting occurred, causing delays in the work."

He added, "During the tower crane dismantling work, while extending the boom and aligning the boom horizontally, the retaining wall adjacent to the tower crane showed a displacement of up to 80 mm. Stabilization work was carried out over three hours, and after confirming it returned to a 16 mm displacement, work resumed three hours later."

He continued, "Once the counterweights and front boom are removed, there will be no dangerous work remaining for the day, and only the extraction work will proceed, eliminating risks."

The tower crane dismantling work is expected to be completed on the 22nd.

Min said, "The dismantling work of the upper boom control room was delayed today and is scheduled for tomorrow morning."

Earlier, at around 3:46 p.m. on the 11th, a part of Building 201 of the I-Park apartment under construction by Hyundai Development Company collapsed from the 38th floor to the 23rd floor, resulting in six workers missing. One was recovered deceased, and the remaining five are still missing.