hankyoreh

A still from a video of the apartment building in Gwangju minutes before the collapse of its outer wall.

Video footage appears to show a portion of the floor sinking just before a partial building collapse at the construction site of the Hwajeong Ipark apartments in western Gwangju’s Seo District, which left six subcontracted employees unaccounted for.

On Thursday, the Hankyoreh acquired two videos totaling 2 minutes and 10 seconds in length, which show the placement of concrete on the floor of the 39th story of the apartment complex’s 201 block. At 3:35 pm on Tuesday — 10 minutes before the collapse occurred — the upper portion of the formwork mold supporting the concrete took on a “V” shape, suggesting that some of the concrete nearby had subsided.

The video was reportedly taken for reporting purposes by a construction worker involved in the concrete placement.

In the video, the workers can be heard speaking Chinese and expressing dismay at the sight of the bent mold.

“The driver of the pump truck was being questioned by police and submitted the video in question for analysis,” explained Cho Young-il, director of the criminal affairs division of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, who is investigating the cause of the accident.

At 3:46 pm Tuesday, the outer wall collapsed on the 23rd to 38th stories of the 201 block of the Hwajeong Ipark apartments, which are currently under construction in Gwangju. Six subcontractor employees who had been working on the 28th to 34th floors went missing in the collapse.

By Kim Yong-hee, Gwangju correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]