On December 29 at approximately 1:49 PM KST, a massive fire swept a tunneled segment of an expressway near Galhyeon-dong, Gwacheon city, killing 5 and injuring 37.
The fire, believed to have originated from a large waste collection truck, quickly spread after it caught onto the sound proof covering of the tunneled expressway. According to reports, the covering quickly caught on fire due to the fact that it was made of polycarbonate material.
Due to heavy traffic inside the tunnel, approximately 45 vehicles remained immobile at the scene of the fire. The fire, which quickly spread over the sound proof covering, also caused waves of black smoke to emerge from the tunnel, and many of the civilians who abandoned their vehicles to escape the scene were forced to inhale the heavy smoke. Accounts from the site also reported "drops of fiery rain" inside the tunnel, as the polycarbonate covering melted away, leaving only a thin frame in the aftermath.
Firefighters were able to put out the brunt of the fire by 4:12 PM KST, approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes after it initially broke out.
Watch footage from the scene, below.
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By installing that sound proof covering, they basically made a tunnel... Now there's nothing wrong with tunnels, because they will usually have water hoses in case fires happen in tunnels... But from what I've read about this tunnel is that there was NO water hoses installed in the entire section. This is 100% on the goverment for poor construction. Tunnels will usually have air ducts of some sort to help with air flow and to suck smoke out and water hoses for civilians to put the fire out before fire fighters get there, but this was just a tunnel with none of the safety features. They basically made a tunnel of death. Rest in peace to all the innocent lives.
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