Ceiling Collapse Injures 38, Averted Major Disaster Thanks to 'Empty Space'

[Anchor]

More than 30 people were injured this morning (October 10) when the ceiling of a commercial building in Daegu collapsed. An event targeting senior citizens was taking place at the site. Fortunately, there were no critical injuries, but it could have easily turned into a major catastrophe.

TBC reporter Kim Nak-sung has the story.

[Reporter]

Steel framing and gypsum board are strewn across the floor as if hit by a bombing, and the ceiling has exposed its concrete skeleton.

Around 10:16 a.m. today, the ceiling finishing materials collapsed on the second floor of a four-story commercial building in Gwaneum-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu.

The accident site was a vacant space formerly used as a billiard room. Starting from the 3rd of this month, a distributor had rented the second-floor space and was using it as an event venue to sell household goods such as electric mattress pads to the elderly.

An event was underway at the time of the accident, when steel clips began to detach from the section of the ceiling farthest from the second-floor entrance, causing it to collapse sequentially.

[Kim Tae-soo / Gwaneum-dong, Daegu: A person who got hurt came down and said, 'I'm fine,' but then blood suddenly started streaming down. It turned out their head had been struck.]

Immediately after the accident, 66 people at the scene were urgently evacuated, while 38 suffered injuries such as head impacts from falling debris, 9 of whom were transported to hospitals.

The building is a four-story structure built in 1994, and it was reported that the mart on the first floor had also suspended its operations.

[Hwang Chil-seok / Head of Incident Command, Daegu Gangbuk Fire Station: Fortunately, because there were desks and chairs below the ceiling tiles, creating empty spaces, there were no severely injured individuals among the casualties.]

Following the accident, President Lee Jae-myung instructed authorities to make every effort to handle the aftermath, and Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho also visited the site to inspect the situation.

The Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency has formed a dedicated investigation team consisting of 33 members, led by the head of the metropolitan investigation unit, including the serious accident investigation unit and forensic investigation unit.

Tomorrow morning, the National Forensic Service, together with relevant agencies, plans to conduct a joint inspection to investigate whether the building's aging or shoddy construction was a factor, and Buk-구청 (Buk-gu Office) also plans to carry out safety inspections on the entire building.

(Photo: TBC | Video by Ko Dae-seung | Video Editing by Lee So-young | Design by Choi Jae-young)

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