▲ Suncheon-Wanju Expressway Sasan 2 Tunnel Accident


"I broke the car door, pulled out the child and ran all the way. A person may die, of course."

Lee Jong-tae, 44, who rescued his life in a multi-collision collision between the Suncheon-Wanju Expressway and Satun 2, which killed 40 people, explained the accident and the rescue situation today (20th).

On the 17th, fire broke out in a multi-collision incident in the Sasan 2 Tunnel, followed by dozens of cars in front of the tunnels.

One of them was a 25-ton truck carrying the coils that Mr. Lee drove.

He was fortunate to stop the car in the tunnel, but the following 5t wingbody truck hit two cars and Lee's car.

Mr. Lee managed to get out of fire immediately after he stopped the car.

When the inside and outside of the tunnel had already become a mess, Mr. Lee witnessed a large cargo truck slipping and covering the car between the first and second lanes in front of the tunnel.

The back was cool.

The woman who barely got out of the passenger seat of the crushed car everywhere cried and asked for help around him.

The ambulance had not arrived yet.

Mr. Lee did not hesitate to run towards the car.

According to Lee, the woman who got off the car begged, "Please save my child in the back seat."

Two more men around were stuck together.

Three people, including Mr. Lee, did all they could to tear open the door with their bare hands.

Mr. Lee said he worked as hard as he could on what might happen to the child in the back seat.

By the time she took her 10-year-old out of the car, Mr. Lee breathed a bit of the dark black smoke, and he became distracted.

It was later found that it was a poisonous gas containing nitric acid from a tank lorry that slipped in a tunnel.

The car was in close proximity to the tunnel and was affected by the toxic fumes.

Awakened, Mr. Lee lifted the child and ran up against the tunnel.

Stopping at some distance from the scene of the accident, he held his child in his arms for about 10 to 15 minutes and then turned over to his parents. The child was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, but it was not a serious injury.

Earlier, Mr. Lee also evacuated those who had escaped the other car in an accident to a safe place outside the guardrail.

I woke up and said that Mr. Lee was wearing only one slipper.

He wrote his personal information to the police and sent him home by car.

Mr. Lee said, "Who is in a distorted car, who's just going to pass by?" And "If I had an accident, I would get help from someone."

He said, "When you rescued your child, you worked hard alongside them," he said. "It's a pity that a big accident that took a lot of lives happened."

Police and fire departments have now cleared the scene and removed the burnt out vehicles from the tunnel and began investigating the cause of the accident.

After passing 12:20 on the 17th, some vehicles collided in Namwon Saemae 2 Tunnel up the Suncheon-Wanju Expressway, followed by 30 tons of 24t tank lorry, trailers and cargo vehicles.

The tank lorry with 18,000 liters of nitric acid caught fire and the black toxic gas was released, increasing the damage.

Five people died and 43 were injured.

(Photo = Yonhap News)