200 injured in Seoul subway train crash
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea suffered its second serious transport accident in just over two weeks yesterday when a subway train in the capital Seoul crashed into a stationary vehicle injuring about 200 people.
The country is still mourning the victims of a ferry accident on April 16, when 300 people were killed or are missing in the submerged hull of a capsized ship in the country’s worst disaster in 20 years.
Most of those hurt yesterday suffered only minor abrasions, according to emergency officials at the Sangwangsimni station, though one person was being treated for a brain hemorrhage and one for a fracture.
No one was killed.
“An incoming train crashed into one stopped at the station,” fire official Kim Kyung-su said, adding that about 1,000 people were evacuated.
Metro official Chung Soo-young said the accident was due to a signal failure.
“I fell forward maybe 2 or 3 meters. It was like tripping over when running really fast,” said Lee Dong-hyeon, 26, an office worker on the moving train.
The last major accident on a South Korean subway network was in 2003 when 192 were killed in a fire in the city of Daegu, which prompted major safety improvements.
Last month’s ferry accident led to the resignation of the prime minister and President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating has dropped sharply due to the slow response of rescue services.
More than 300 schoolchildren were on the ferry and many were ordered to stay on board as it sank by crew who then got off the ship.
An announcement on the train yesterday telling passengers to stay where they were was widely ignored. Many people forced open the train doors and jumped onto the track to get away.
A poll issued before yesterday’s accident showed President Park’s rating had plunged 11 points in the past two weeks to 48 percent.
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