A bus with its front windshield severely damaged swerves across the road before coming to a near stop.

The incident occurred on March 18 near the Poseung Junction on the Seohaean Expressway, when a rear wheel detached from a 4.5-ton cargo truck in motion and crashed into an intercity bus traveling in the opposite direction.

The flying wheel penetrated the front windshield of the bus, and the driver in his 50s managed to hold onto the steering wheel until the very end despite suffering severe injuries, preventing a secondary accident.

However, the severely injured bus driver was transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest while receiving CPR and ultimately passed away, while three passengers on the bus also sustained injuries from flying glass fragments.

According to police investigations, the accident turned out to be a man-made disaster that could have been sufficiently prevented beforehand.

An appraisal by the National Forensic Service revealed that the cause of the accident was severe aging and wear of the connection parts between the truck wheel, bolts, and nuts.

The truck driver in his 70s, surnamed A, had already received a warning from a repair shop late last year that the parts required repairs due to abnormalities.

However, despite hearing this, he did not carry out separate repairs and continued driving after replacing only the tires.

During police questioning, driver A stated to the effect that "when visually inspected during routine checks, I did not notice any major signs of abnormality, and if there was an issue, I reported it to the vehicle owner."

The representative of the transportation company, who was responsible for bearing the repair costs, also delayed maintenance despite receiving a report from driver A that there was a problem with the parts.

B was reportedly claimed during police questioning, "I did not hear that it immediately interfered with driving, so I intended to repair it when I had some breathing room."

The Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek Police Station held driver A and vehicle owner B accountable for neglecting maintenance duties despite knowing about the defects beforehand, forwarding driver A to the prosecutors' office for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents and vehicle owner B for professional negligence resulting in death and injury.

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kim Gi-hyeon | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)