Six suspects referred to prosecutors over fatal expressway tunnel blaze

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Six suspects referred to prosecutors over fatal expressway tunnel blaze

The charred remains of a tunnel in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 29, 2022, after it was burned by a fire that started from a garbage truck earlier that day [YONHAP]

The charred remains of a tunnel in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 29, 2022, after it was burned by a fire that started from a garbage truck earlier that day [YONHAP]

Six suspects have been referred to prosecutors for their alleged roles in the expressway tunnel blaze that killed five people late last year in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.
 
Police on Friday said they were wrapping up their probe nearly three months after the fire. They described the suspects as “co-offenders of criminal negligence,” similar to the legal principle applied to the suspects in the 2022 Itaewon crowd surge.
 
Officers at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police blamed a garbage truck driver and four workers who were responsible for the highway’s management for exacerbating the situation after the fire broke out, saying the blaze would not have grown to be as severe as it did that day had the suspects actively went into crisis management.
 
Police also accused the CEO of the truck company of modifying the vehicle without proper authorization, saying it was part of the reason that the fire went out of control.
 
The inferno broke out on Dec. 29, 2022, at a so-called noise barrier tunnel on the 2nd Seoul-Inchun Linking Highway, an expressway linking the Gyeonggi cities of Anyang and Seongnam.
 
A noise barrier tunnel is a tunnel that’s meant to block the noise around roads so as to protect nearby residents from noise pollution.
 
The five-ton garbage truck caught on fire while passing through the tunnel at around 2 p.m. According to police, the driver stopped the truck on the shoulder of the road after he realized it was on fire, which led the flames to quickly spread to the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.
 
The tunnel was made out of polymethyl methacrylate, a highly flammable material.
 
The blaze was entirely extinguished nearly two hours later after taking down 44 cars and 600 meters (1,969 feet) of the 840-meter-long tunnel.
 
Five people died and 56 were injured.
 
Fire authorities believe the fire was caused by the truck’s engine overheating.
 
The tunnel is still off-limits to the public.
 
Police said the truck driver should have used the fire extinguisher and emergency bell inside the tunnel after stopping, but he did neither.
 
As for the expressway management workers, police said they should have stopped other cars from entering the tunnel early on by blocking roads and making emergency announcements. They were said to have belatedly learned about the fire because they weren’t paying attention to the CCTVs in their office.

BY SON SUNG-BAE, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
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