Police Speed Up Investigation Into Entire Steel Ceiling Collapse With Finishing Materials

Police are speeding up their investigation to determine the cause of the collapse of a commercial building's ceiling finishing materials in Daegu on the 10th, which left dozens of people injured.

According to the police and other sources on the 12th, a joint on-site inspection conducted the previous day on the second floor of the commercial building in Gwaneum-dong, Buk-gu, revealed that the lightweight steel ceiling frame collapsed entirely during the accident.

The ceiling frame in question is structured by attaching gypsum board and paper plywood to steel frames, which is commonly seen in hospitals, offices, and other buildings.

Ceiling frames are secured to concrete ceilings using anchor bolts and wires. As the building is over 30 years old, possibilities have been raised that the accident may have occurred due to reasons such as aged materials or loosened connections.

To determine the cause of the accident, the police secured two boxes of evidence, including remnants of the finishing materials, during yesterday's on-site inspection and are conducting a detailed forensic analysis.

The results of the detailed analysis are expected to come out in two weeks.

In addition, authorities are successively questioning individuals related to the accident, including building and vendor representatives.

Based on the results of the detailed forensic analysis, the police plan to review the application of charges for professional negligence resulting in injury.

However, no suspects have been booked as of yet.

A police official stated, "We plan to decide whether to book suspects after comprehensively examining structural defects and material aging."

Previously, on the 10th at 10:16 a.m., an accident occurred in which ceiling finishing materials collapsed on the second floor of a four-story building above ground in Gwaneum-dong, Buk-gu.

At the time of the accident, a business was selling kitchen utensils and other goods to 66 elderly people on the second floor of the building.

According to firefighting authorities, 38 people sustained minor injuries in the incident.

Among them, 9 people were transported to hospitals.

The police individually contacted the injured to check their injury status, tallying that 18 people received hospital treatment, with 5 of them hospitalized.

The building where the accident occurred is a four-story structure above ground built in 1994, and a grocery mart that operated on the first floor had suspended operations since the end of last month.

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