hankyoreh

A victim of the flooding of an underpass in Cheongju is carried to her final resting place as family looks on, on July 17. (Choi Ye-rin/The Hankyoreh)

She was a cleaning worker. That morning, she’d boarded a bus to go to a job at an apartment in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, only to never return.

Her daughter struggled to keep her composure while she greeted all the guests who came to say their last goodbyes to her mother.

The daughter choked back tears when asked what her mother was like, but began to sob once her mother’s coffin was borne out of the hospital.

“Mother, mother, mother,” she cried out to the mother who could no longer answer.

Beautifully dressed in a hanbok, the woman’s mother smiled from her funeral portrait, frozen in time.

The funeral for a 76-year-old, surnamed Park, who died in the tragic flooding of an underpass in Cheongju, took place on Tuesday at the Chungbuk National University Hospital Funeral Home in the city.

Park, who worked cleaning apartments, took a bus to work on Saturday morning just like any other day.

The 747 express bus she was riding ordinarily runs from Osong Station through downtown Cheongju to Cheongju International Airport.

However, when the bus took a detour to avoid a road that had been blocked off due to heavy rain, it entered the Gunpyeong No. 2 Underpass. But only a few fateful minutes later, the tunnel was flooded with water from a nearby river.

“I was going to work, but the traffic is really bad so I’m on my way home,” Park told her son over the phone, in what would be their last conversation.

When Park’s daughter couldn’t get a hold of her after the accident, the daughter reported her as missing.

Park’s body was recovered from the flooded tunnel at 1:44 pm the next day.

“Mom, make sure that you’re born into a rich family in your next life. Don’t live such a hard life next time. Live a nice, comfortable life as a well-to-do wife in a house full of riches,” the daughter said as she saw her mother off on her last journey.

Earlier in the day, a funeral for a college student who also died in the tragic flooding was held at the Hana Geriatric Hospital in Cheongju.

Tragedy struck the 24-year-old, surnamed Ahn, as she was making her way to Osong Station to go on a trip with her friends. Her friends and family accompanied her on her last journey.

Her mother’s knees buckled as she followed her daughter’s portrait.

At the same funeral home, the body of a 32-year-old surnamed Cho was also laid to rest. Cho, who worked at a startup incubator in Osong, was traveling to work on the 747 express bus when the unthinkable happened.

Posts Cho had uploaded on social media regarding the Itaewon tragedy of October 2022 and the Sewol ferry tragedy circulated online following news of his death.

Cho’s mother sobbed as she followed her son’s coffin.

Eight victims of the underpass flooding were recovered on Sunday and laid to rest at four funeral homes in Cheongju.

Funerals will be held for the five victims recovered on Monday starting on Wednesday.

North Chungcheong Province plans to set up a joint memorial altar as soon as the bereaved families agree on a location.

By Choi Ye-rin, staff reporter

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