The identities of the five people who died in a soundproof tunnel on the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on the 29th were all confirmed within two days of the accident.
On the 31st, the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency’s 2nd Gyeongin Expressway Soundproof Tunnel Fire Accident Investigation Headquarters announced that “the identities of the five victims were confirmed through national forensic DNA analysis.”
As a result of the confirmation, 3 of the 5 deaths were female and 2 were male, and by age group, 3 were in their 60s, 1 in their 30s, and 1 in their 20s.
They were all found inside four vehicles.
Two out of three women were found in one vehicle due to a mother-daughter relationship, and the remaining three were found in three different vehicles.
All of these vehicles were located 200 to 300 meters from the entrance of the soundproof tunnel in the direction of Anyang, on the opposite side of the road where the tong truck for transporting waste that caught fire was located for the first time.
Previously, it was difficult to identify the body with the naked eye because the body was severely damaged, so the police took DNA from the body of the deceased and requested an appraisal from the National Institute of Scientific Investigation (NFS).
After conducting DNA comparison work with the bereaved family, the identity was finally confirmed on this day.
The previous day, the National Forensic Service also conducted an autopsy on the deceased to determine the exact cause of death.
It is expected that it will take some time before the results of the autopsy are available.
The police plan to identify the cause of the fire through analysis of the battery and electrical wiring of the tong truck for transporting waste collected from the joint on-site identification with the National Forensic Service and the fire department on the 30th.
The police charged the driver of a tong truck for transporting waste with a criminal charge of negligent negligence on the job, and investigated twice until the day before.
Mr. A is said to have made a statement to the effect that “a fire broke out after a sudden ‘pop’ sound of air exploding while driving.”
The fire started on the 29th at 1:49 pm in Galhyeon-dong, Gwacheon-si, when an unknown fire broke out in a 5-ton waste transport truck passing through the soundproof tunnel of the Galhyeon Overpass on the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway.
The fire spread rapidly as it moved to the walls of the acrylic soundproof tunnel.
The fire burned a 600m section of the 830m soundproof tunnel until it was completely extinguished at 4:12 pm, about 2 hours later. As a result, 5 people died and 41 others were injured. Three of the injured are in serious condition.