[Photo by Namgung Jin-woon]
Four workers were killed and 10 others were injured Wednesday after they were trapped in the collapse of an underground subway construction site caused by a suspected gas explosion, firefighters said.
An explosion ripped through the construction site, about 15 meters (16.4 yards) under the surface at 7:20 am in the streets of Seoul's eastern satellite city of Namyangju when 17 people had been at work, firefighters said.
"We believe there was an explosion of gas while at work," Kim Jin-sun, a fire station head in Namyangju, told reporters, adding one was killed after being blown away by the blast and three others died after being buried in the debris.
TV footages showed dozens of firefighters carrying away the bodies and injured workers one by one on the stretchers after clearing the debris.
Public Safety and Security Minister Park In-yong said after a field inspection that there may have been a problem in a gas hose used for welding.
Firefighters said no explosives had used at the site. Some of those injured were in critical condition at a nearby hospital.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
