Student dies after being hit by garbage truck

Social Affairs

Published: 08 Jun. 2023, 17:48

Student dies after being hit by garbage truck

A steep hill at the campus of the Dongduk Women's University where a student was hit and killed by a one-ton garbage truck [LEE CHAN-KYU]

A university student in Korea died on Wednesday after being hit by a garbage truck coming down a hill at a school campus.

The 21-year-old surnamed Yang was hit by a one-ton truck driven by an 80-something-year-old man at the Dongduk Women’s University campus at around 8:50 a.m. on Monday, according to police.

She was immediately sent to the hospital but was declared brain dead.

“The truck came down the hill fast,” said a 23-year-old who witnessed the accident.

“When the truck hit the stone wall and stopped, I saw the student lying on the ground in a pool of blood,” the witness explained, adding that some professors and students were also on the hill but avoided being hit.

Police on Wednesday booked the truck driver on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents.

Yang was studying child development at the university. Her family decided to donate her organs ahead of her being declared dead.

Students at Dongduk Women's University built a makeshift memorial for their colleague who died after being hit by a garbage truck at the campus on Monday. [LEE CHAN-KYU]

Some blamed the school for the accident as there have been requests to improve safety on the hill, such as moving the garbage dump on the top of a steep hill elsewhere and constructing a separate sidewalk.

“The school’s insensitivity to safety led to this accident,” a university student council member told the JoongAng Ilbo.

The school acknowledged that they have been receiving such complaints in the past years and that they have made improvements by getting rid of parking spaces and building a big staircase in the area.

“As the president who is responsible for students’ safety, it is disastrous that such an unfortunate accident took place at the campus,” Kim Myoung-ae, the president of Dongduk Women’s University wrote on the school’s website.

“We will inspect school facilities so that similar accidents will not take place moving forward.”

A memorial altar for Yang was set up on Thursday in her hometown of Gangneung, Gangwon.

BY JANG SEO-YUN, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]