A Person Got Stuck in the Screen Door as the Train Departed... "I Thought I Was Going to Die"

Passenger Trapped Between Exit Door and Screen Door at Sadang Station, Seoul
'Human Detection' Signal Error... "I Only Thought I Was Going to Die"

A commuter was trapped between the train door and the screen door (safety door) at Sadang Station on Seoul Subway Line 4 during the morning rush hour. According to Seoul Metro and others on the 17th, around 9:10 a.m. on the 12th, a man in his 20s, Mr. A, was trying to board a train at Sadang Station when he got caught between the screen door and the train car. While Mr. A was trapped, the train departed.

Terrifying accident during morning commute... "Only the train departure signal was processed"

Citizens using the train at Sadang Station on Seoul Subway Line 2. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang aymsdream@

On that morning commute, Mr. A was lining up to board the train as usual to transfer from Line 2 to Line 4 at Sadang Station. However, the subway doors closed, and immediately after, the screen doors behind him also shut. He thought one of the doors would open soon, but the train started moving with a loud noise while he was trapped in a narrow space of about 50 cm. Mr. A told MBC on the 16th, "I was so dazed, and all I could think was 'I'm going to die now,' so I was very scared."

After the train left, Mr. A managed to escape by pushing the screen doors sideways. Afterwards, he reportedly protested to Seoul Metro, asking, "How could such an accident happen?" In response, the metro explained, "There are some blind spots where the obstacle sensors cannot detect if a person stands too close to the train doors." They added, "Especially platforms 1-1 and 10-4 have double sensors installed for management." The platform where Mr. A’s accident occurred was 1-1.

According to the metro’s explanation, the two sensors controlling the screen doors simultaneously sent signals for 'train departure function' and 'person detection,' but only the 'train departure' signal was processed, and the 'person detection' was not recognized. The metro emphasized to MBC, "We have now prioritized people in the control system."

‘Door entrapment’ accidents most frequent in Seoul subway

This accident recalls the fatal incident on Seoul Subway Line 5 in 2016. At that time, a man in his 30s was caught in a similar entrapment accident at Gimpo Airport Station, dragged by the train, and ultimately died. Prior to that, there was also the 'Guui Station Kim' accident, where a worker was trapped while repairing screen doors at Guui Station on Line 2.

Despite these accidents, from 2019 to last year, ‘door entrapment’ was the most common type of safety accident in the Seoul subway over five years. According to Seoul city data from September last year, a total of 2,485 people were injured in safety accidents on Lines 1 to 9 of the Seoul subway up to August 2023, with ‘door entrapment’ being the leading cause of injuries.