President Lee Jae Myung orders all-out rescue efforts for trapped workers

Rescue officials search for three trapped workers at a library construction site in Gwangju, Thursday. (Yonhap)
Rescue officials search for three trapped workers at a library construction site in Gwangju, Thursday. (Yonhap)

Rescue operations are underway for three construction workers still trapped at the collapsed site of a public library under construction in Gwangju, after one worker pulled out earlier was pronounced dead.

The incident, reported at 1:58 p.m., occurred at the construction site of a library in Seo-gu, Gwangju, when a steel structure on the second-floor of the building collapsed. This led to four of the 97 workers at the site being trapped, according to the Gwangju Fire Headquarters.

A 47-year-old worker was pulled out from the site and taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, where he was pronounced dead. Rescue officials have confirmed the location of one of the trapped workers, but the other two remain unaccounted for.

President Lee Jae Myung ordered "all-out efforts" to rescue the three workers who remain trapped. He instructed that necessary assets and personnel from relevant government agencies be mobilized to ensure the workers' safe recovery.

Authorities said the collapse appears to have occurred sequentially, with failures reported from the top floor down to the sublevels. The building is a public library commissioned by the Gwangju Metropolitan Government, with construction having begun in 2022 and scheduled for completion in April 2026.

Police and fire authorities will conduct an investigation into the cause of the accident once rescue operations are completed.

Rescue officials search for three trapped workers at a library construction site in Gwangju, Thursday. (Yonhap)
Rescue officials search for three trapped workers at a library construction site in Gwangju, Thursday. (Yonhap)

minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com