"A Loud Crash, Followed by Another a Second Later"... Three Sanitation Workers Heading to Work Killed in Tragic Accident

[Anchor]

Early this morning (August 19), a collision between a garbage truck and a dump truck in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, resulted in the deaths of three sanitation workers on their way to work. Flashing traffic signals were active at the intersection at the time of the accident.

Reporter Kim Nak-sung from TBC has the details.

[Reporter]

Around 4:00 AM today, at an intersection in Yeongcheon where flashing signals were blinking.

A 6-ton garbage truck entering the intersection to make a left turn collided directly with a 25-ton dump truck traveling straight.

The front part of the garbage truck was shattered to the point of being completely torn off, and the dump truck also lost its balance and tipped over to the left.

Due to the impact of the crash, the front sections of both the garbage truck and the dump truck were crushed beyond recognition.

Nearby residents were jolted awake by the sudden, deafening noise in the early morning hours.

[Yu Gi-hyung / Accident Witness: There was a huge crash, a booming sound even louder than thunder. It did not happen just once; there was a bang, and then another bang a second later, happening twice.]

The accident claimed the lives of three sanitation workers inside the garbage truck, including two individuals in their 60s and one in their 40s.

The deceased workers belonged to a waste management subcontractor for Yeongcheon City and were on their way to a household waste incineration plant.

The 50-year-old male driver of the dump truck was also seriously injured and transported to a hospital, though it was confirmed that he was not driving under the influence.

In the wake of the accident, soil loaded on the dump truck spilled across the road, while two parked vehicles and a nearby steel pillar were damaged.

[Park Jin-joo / Nearby Resident: The front part of the vehicle was over there, a person had collapsed in the middle, and a vehicle was flipped over in the back.]

Yeongcheon City stated that it had previously instructed waste management contractors to begin waste collection from 6:00 AM onward if possible, and added that it is currently investigating the exact circumstances of the incident.

Police are analyzing nearby CCTV footage and vehicle black boxes to investigate the precise cause of the accident.

(Video footage by: Park Jong-young, Kim Do-yoon / TBC)

TBC, Kim Nak-sung
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.