A 34-year-old man who fell into a sinkhole in eastern Seoul was found in cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning, 17 hours after the incident occurred, authorities said.
The man, identified only by his surname of Park, was discovered at 11:22 a.m. about 50 meters from where the large sinkhole opened up in the middle of a road near Hanyoung Foreign Language High School in Myeongil-dong, Gangdong-gu, according to fire officials. Rescue operations were completed by 12:36 p.m.
“He was found without a pulse and unconscious,” the Gangdong-gu Fire Department said during a briefing on Tuesday.
Park was riding a motorcycle when a sinkhole suddenly opened up in the road and he fell in at around 6:29 p.m. Monday. Emergency responders launched an immediate search but were unable to locate him until late the next morning.
The huge sinkhole, measuring 20 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep, opened up near an intersection in Gangdong-gu at 6:29 p.m. Monday. The motorcyclist went missing after falling in, and one car driver who had passed over the site just before the collapse was injured and taken to a hospital, officials said.
The cause of this sinkhole is still under investigation.
shinjh@heraldcorp.com
