Two workers trapped after metro construction site collapses in South Korean city of Gwangmyeong

Two workers were trapped after an under-construction subway tunnel collapsed in the South Korean city of Gwangmyeong on Friday. The incident resulted in a major emergency response, officials said.

According to the national fire agency, the collapse occurred during tunnel reinforcement work at a site that was part of an underground transit project connecting Seoul’s Yeouido district with Ansan and Siheung in Gyeonggi province, South Korea’s most populous region.

Authorities confirmed that two workers were trapped underground. One of them has been located and rescue efforts are underway, while the second — identified as an excavator operator — remains unaccounted for. The agency has deployed 55 firefighters and 18 emergency vehicles to aid in the rescue operation.

The collapse followed earlier warnings at the site. Gwangmyeong city officials said workers had been withdrawn and the site evacuated earlier in the day after a supervisor reported cracks in an underground support column. This led to immediate safety measures, including the closure of a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) stretch of road surrounding the site due to fears of ground subsidence.

“There were concerns over possible ground subsidence, so we blocked the road as a precaution,” a police official told reporters. Authorities had also halted construction work and restricted traffic in the area prior to the collapse.

It remains unclear whether the two trapped workers had re-entered the construction site after the initial evacuation.

Officials said the road will remain closed until reinforcement work is completed and the site is flagged safe.

The incident comes just weeks after another construction-related disaster in Seoul, where a massive sinkhole opened at a different metro line extension site, killing one person. That incident had raised public concerns over the safety of South Korea’s rapidly expanding underground transit infrastructure.