13 People Fall from Incheon Grand Bridge This Year, Up From Last Year

Maritime fall accidents continue to occur on the Incheon Grand Bridge, which lacks fall-prevention facilities.

According to the Incheon Coast Guard on the 16th, 13 people have fallen into the sea from the Incheon Grand Bridge between the beginning of this year and the 13th.

This is two more than the 11 people who fell during the entire previous year.

Among the 13 people who fell into the sea, 11 died and two survived.

Three people fell into the sea and died last month alone, and on the 13th, a man in his 30s parked his vehicle near the main pylon of the Incheon Grand Bridge and fell into the sea, resulting in his death.

The Incheon Grand Bridge is South Korea's longest bridge, measuring 21.4 kilometers in length, connecting Yeongjongdo, home to Incheon International Airport, and Songdo International City. It opened in 2009.

The height of the road near the main pylon of the Incheon Grand Bridge reaches 74 meters, comparable to a 30-story apartment building.

Maritime fall accidents have occurred on the Incheon Grand Bridge every year since they began following the year after its opening in 2010.

Until 2021, the number of annual sea falls remained under 10, but since then, 10 or more people have fallen every year except for 2024.

Since the opening of the Incheon Grand Bridge, a total of 104 people have fallen into the sea, of whom 78 have died and 15 remain missing.

Eleven people are tallied as having survived.

As these fall accidents continue, the operator of the Incheon Grand Bridge has installed plastic drums to prevent illegal parking and standing on the shoulders and stepped up patrols, but criticisms have persisted that these measures fall short of stopping fall accidents.

Calls for fundamental measures, such as installing fall-prevention facilities like "safety railings," have been raised for several years.

However, implementation has been repeatedly delayed due to regulatory issues and financial burdens.

Toward the end of last year, discussions between the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Incheon Grand Bridge operator appeared to accelerate the safety railing installation project, but the project hit a roadblock because there are no appropriate design standards for installing safety railings on a bridge without sidewalks.

In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport decided to soon embark on the design for safety railing installation, aiming to secure safety based on existing standards rather than establishing separate new standards.

Plans to install 2.5-meter-high safety railings along a 7- to 8-kilometer section in both directions around the main pylons of the Incheon Grand Bridge have been under review, with the installation cost estimated at approximately 8 billion won.

The funding will utilize national funds collected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport from Incheon Grand Bridge toll revenues.

However, the scale and cost of installation are subject to change during the design process.

An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, "We plan to secure safety tailored to the characteristics of the bridge," adding, "It is still difficult to guarantee when construction will begin."

On the Cheongna Haneul Bridge, which opened last January, fall-prevention railings 2.5 meters in height have been installed along a 1.72-kilometer cable-stayed section, and it has been reported that there have been zero maritime falls there so far.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.