'Gwangju Collapse Accident' Police Draw Sword on Hyunsan... "Summons Investigation Starting Tomorrow"

Cause of Accident Cited: Absence of Dongbari Installation and Impact of 50t Counterweight

Interior of Hwajeong I-Park Building 201, revealed to the press on the 22nd

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The police investigating the collapse accident at Hwajeong I-Park in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City are summoning the site manager belonging to the construction company Hyundai Development Company (HDC) and others to conduct a full-scale investigation.

The Investigation Headquarters for the Gwangju Seo-gu New Apartment Collapse Accident (Head Kim Jun-cheol, Commissioner) announced on the 25th that they plan to summon and investigate the site manager from HDC, who is suspected of professional negligence resulting in death or injury, within this week.

The number of suspects in this criminal case has increased from the original 10 to 11, with the addition of a subcontractor representative suspected of illegal re-subcontracting added the day before.

They are accused of violating their duty of care related to the new apartment construction site, causing casualties.

The police had previously postponed summoning suspects to allow them to focus on site recovery. Now that government-led rescue operations have begun and the role of HDC officials has diminished, investigations will proceed starting this week.

They plan to expedite the previously slow investigation and concentrate investigative efforts to ensure that if illegal acts are uncovered, strict punishment will be enforced.

The investigation headquarters is largely divided into the Violent Crime Investigation Unit, which clarifies the cause of the accident, and the Anti-Corruption Economic Crime Investigation Unit, which examines the contractual relationships between primary and subcontractors.

The police are focusing on the 'absence of support props (dongbari)' as a cause of the collapse.

According to HDC's construction guidelines and the Standard Specifications from the National Construction Standards Center, for buildings over 30 floors, support props must be installed on the three floors below when pouring concrete.

However, it was investigated that eight subcontractor workers were pouring concrete on the 39th floor without installing support props from the PIT floor (pipe and equipment floor) directly below to the 37th floor.

On December 29 last year, the support props on the 37th floor were removed, and two days later, they were taken out via crane. The 38th floor props were dismantled on January 8 this year and lowered to the ground the same day.

The clear reason for removing the support props is expected to be revealed in future police investigations.

It is currently presumed that HDC, pressed for construction time, found the installation of support props obstructive to lifting construction materials to the upper floors. One subcontractor testified to the police that "the support props were removed under the instruction of the HDC site manager."

Another cause pointed out is the 'reverse beam' (a reverse 'T'-shaped retaining wall).

Since some spaces on the 39th floor were planned for public facilities such as flower beds and outdoor terraces, the floor heights were designed differently. Due to the three-level height difference, there was insufficient space to install support props.

Instead, seven 'reverse beams' (reverse 'T'-shaped retaining walls) were installed to act as supports until the concrete floor hardened and solidified, with an estimated weight exceeding 40 to 50 tons.

Further investigation is needed to determine whether the collapse was caused by the reverse beams failing to bear the load and breaking, causing impact, or if the PIT floor collapsed due to the absence of support props.

The cause analysis will be conducted through the National Forensic Service and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Construction Accident Investigation Committee.

The police will first investigate those responsible, considering the absence of support props and unauthorized installation of reverse beams as the main negligence factors influencing the collapse.

Meanwhile, the accident occurred around 3:46 p.m. on the 11th, when the exterior walls from the 23rd to 38th floors of Building 201 at the apartment construction site collapsed.

As a result, one worker died, and five went missing. It is presumed that they were responsible for window and fire-fighting equipment installation work on floors 28 to 34 of the collapsed building.