Home > National > Social Affairs

Missing motorcyclist found dead after being swallowed by massive sinkhole in Seoul

Published: 25 Mar. 2025, 13:28 Updated: 25 Mar. 2025, 17:57

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Access to an intersection in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, remains restricted on March 25 after a sinkhole swallowed a motorcyclist the previous day. The 34-year-old rider was found dead after a 17-hour search. [NEWS1]

A motorcyclist who went missing after being swallowed by a massive sinkhole in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, was found dead on Tuesday after a 17-hour search.

An official from Gangdong Fire Station told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the 34-year-old man, surnamed Park, was found in a state of cardiac arrest at around 11:22 a.m.

“We found the man about 50 meters [164 feet] below the center of the sinkhole after around 17 hours of search operations,” the official said.

The sinkhole, 20 meters wide and 18 meters deep, appeared at around 6:29 p.m. Monday at an intersection near an elementary school in Myeongil-dong. It swallowed the motorcyclist and injured the driver of an SUV, who had passed through just before the collapse. The hole spanned four and a half lanes.

Beneath the intersection was an active construction site for the extension of subway line No. 9, where excavation work for a tunnel was underway. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to halt construction following the incident.

Park’s body was recovered after rescue teams used heavy equipment to remove soil and sand and drained 2,000 tons of water that had leaked into the site due to a damaged underground pipe.

A total of 17 rescue responders, a search dog and two excavators were deployed for the operation.

By the time Park was found, around 6,480 tons of sand and soil had accumulated beneath the sinkhole.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, left, inspects the area near a 20-meter-wide sinkhole that appeared at an intersection in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, on March 24. [NEWS1]

On Tuesday, police launched an internal investigation into the accident to determine the cause of the sinkhole and whether any legal violations were committed by parties involved in the subway extension project.

Additionally, the police said they are considering requesting an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death and further investigate the circumstances surrounding the collapse.

During the overnight search, authorities also recovered the motorcyclist’s phone and motorcycle, located 40 meters and 20 meters below the center of the sinkhole, respectively.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]