Police and labor authorities on Friday raided POSCO E&C and its subcontractors over the recent collapse of a subway construction site near Seoul that left one worker dead and another injured.
A tunnel under construction by POSCO E&C for the Shinansan Line, a new metropolitan rail line between Ansan of Gyeonggi Province and Seoul's Yeouido, collapsed in the city of Gwangmyeong on April 11. Two workers were trapped after the accident. One of them was rescued after 13 hours but the other was found dead on April 16.
About 60 investigators from the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency and some 90 officials from the labor ministry's Seongnam branch office participated in the raid, searching nine locations of seven companies, including POSCO E&C's head and field offices and its subcontractors and supervisors, for possible evidence related to the collapse accident.
Based on documents and evidence seized from the raid, police and the labor officials plan to comprehensively investigate the cause of the tunnel collapse and whether safety rules were followed at the site.
Police have so far booked three officials, each from POSCO E&C, one subcontractor and one supervision company, on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death. (Yonhap)
