The Deadly Korean Bridge Collapse That Killed 32 - Bus Filled With Students Fell 66ft Into Han River

[Music]. bada bing badao a sinking car will be. fully submerged within 30 to 120 seconds. so you have essentially 2 minutes if. you're lucky to get out of that. submerged car and it's going to be. terrifying every second of it is going. to be like life or death the minute that. your car hits that water the front of. your car is going to start to nose dive. straight down into the river the ocean. wherever you may be the front of the car. is typically heavier so it starts slowly.

sinking and bringing in more water now. this is what some professionals have. advised you to do if you're in these. types of situations roll down the. windows as fast as you can you're about. to hit that water roll down the window. you're in the water roll down the window. because once you're fully submerged it's. going to be nearly impossible to open. your car door and if your car windows. stop working then you're going to be. trapped inside the car with Zero Escape. you're going to drown to death inside. the car so roll down your windows. because the power to operate the windows.

is only going to last so long you have a. very short window of opportunity before. all the electrical systems are destroyed. by the water if you can't roll down the. windows you got to find something to. break it with don't try and break the. windshield that is the thickest part of. glass in the entire car you got to use. the side windows then you take off your. seat belt you do not want to be. restrained while you're trying to free. yourself from drowning in a car help. other people out in the car and then. swim out of the car safely it's going to. be the easiest to swim out of the car.

when the water level is still below your. car window that's open now once there's. water coming in through that open car. window you're going up against the water. pressure water's pushing you down you. got to swim up against it if you're not. a strong swimmer you might have to wait. until the entire car sinks to the bottom. and then wait for the water pressure to. equalize before trying to swim up. because even if the F car is fully. submerged it's still sinking so the. water is pushing it down and you're. trying to go up.

wow you can still do it but it's going. to take a lot more energy and a lot more. skill wherever you are in this process. you're going to want to use your feet to. kick off the car to try and Propel. yourself towards the surface but what if. you wake up in a sinking car what if you. didn't even see yourself falling what if. you weren't ready you weren't alert you. didn't have any of the time to do these. things and now the car is filling up. with water and you're panicking. in the Han River in Soul South Korea. 33-year-old minjun was not unconscious.

he violently wakes up by the cold it's. just so cold and he notices he's in the. driver's seat of his car and there is. cold water splashing into his car it's. slowly filling up his feet are fully. submerged at this point and now it's. like trying to reach his knees he's. freaking out like what the hell is going. on he has no idea why he's in water he. starts panicking he's looking out the. window all he sees is water. what the hell his car is in the middle. of the Han River sinking how how did he.

even get here he tries to push open the. car door he pushes it doesn't even budge. something is blocking it or perhaps it's. the water pressure that's high enough. already it won't move he tries to slam. his body up against the door to get it. to open it's not even moving a little. bit not even a single inch so he's like. okay calm down think we got to think he. could hear his breathing ringing in his. ears and he's panicking even if he gets. out then what be plunged into the. dangerous river in the middle of October. I mean surely he's going to quickly die. the currents are strong enough to drag.

him underneath the water and if that. doesn't happen he's going to die of. hypothermia pretty quickly because he's. in the middle of the river but if he. stays in the car he's going to drown the. car is going to slowly submerge and he's. going to drown to death either way so no. no no no he's got to get out and he had. wasted so much energy trying to get that. car door open the water is now up to his. waist he has to think clearly he tries. to open the windows it doesn't work it's. broken and he's thinking okay what do I.

do what do I do the window has a tiny. hairline crack running through it mun. knew that this is the only way out the. only way to live or at least have a shot. at Living so he uses his elbow and he. smashes it into the window once twice. three times the water is just coming up. higher and higher filling up the car and. it's splashing up against the car trying. to drag it down I mean the adrenaline is. so high he doesn't even feel how cold. the water is anymore he uses the weight. of his body to SM Mash into the window.

again and it finally shatters it breaks. he pushes out the glass shards he takes. one last breath closes his eyes and. jumps out the window and he plunges. straight into the cold concrete. and he's like what the hell why is this. not water he opens his eyes and he looks. around his car was half submerged in. water but still resting on a piece of. concrete that is now floating in the Han. River a giant piece of concrete the size.

of two football fields is now floating. in the water it does not belong there it. wasn't there 2 seconds ago and behind. him mun sees what looks straight out of. an apocalyptic movie floating on the. concrete island is a blood bath people. crawling out of their crushed cars. moaning for help people in the water. screaming begging to be saved while. they're getting swept away by the. powerful currents other cars are fully.

sinking into the bottom of the Deep. River a bus behind him is crushed to. half its size the bus is now coming up. to his waist with blood just pouring out. of it like someone stepped on a berry. flavored juice box he could see blood. soaked hands like reaching out of the. bus trying to crawl out and nobody was. coming to help them it would be up to. the 49 people floating in the middle of. the river to save each other other by.

the end 32 people would be dead this is. the case of this hungu bridge collapse. in South Korea and how 32 people died. without medical attention on a concrete. floating island in the middle of the Han. River while helicopters flew over and. live streamed the whole thinga news. networks. [Music].

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of dedicated researchers and translators. and we'd also like to thank you guys for. your continued support as we work on our. mission to be worthy Advocates of these. causes as always full show notes are. available at Rotten Mingo podcast.com we. worked with our Korean researchers to. help assist in the Gathering of data for. this case but as always with. International cases please let us know. in the comments if there was anything. miscommunicated Lost in Translation or. just any additional information you. would want us to know leave it in the. comments and quick note many of the.

victims involved have wished to stay. Anonymous so we're going to be assigning. aliases for them and with that being. said let's get into it all the workers. of the local convenience stores nearby. they knew this man he was kind of an. interesting middle-aged man he worked by. installing those LED lights on the. outside of buildings so he worked for a. light installation company and the ones. that really watched him or if they ever. looked out the window and they saw him. installing these lights any time he got.

a little bit high up on the ladder his. knees would start buckling his whole. body would start shaking and then after. work he would walk into a convenience. store and buy all the food that he was. craving now for years there were ups and. downs in his finances on the times that. he wasn't making a lot of money he would. still walk in and buy all the food that. he was craving there would be split. moments where the convenience store. owner would tell him exactly how much it. was and the middle-aged man would open. his wallet let's say the food is $19 he.

only had $20 in his wallet he would hand. it over with a big smile on his face and. tell him thank you you know you got to. eat and walk out he did this even when. he had more money he ate everything that. he was craving all the time he never. skimped out on food and it's very. interesting because the ones that had. known him for years now they knew that. he had not always been like that he. didn't even work installing lights when. he was was younger he was a police.

officer it felt like this man had two. lives one from before and one from after. the incident before he was just another. young cop in this police issued van. complaining about food prices going up I. mean at this point it's straight up. robbery for some kimbop I mean it's so. chai which means annoyingly unfair that. I would just rather not even eat at this. point the rest of the other 10 police. officers would chuckle and the one. driving he turned up the volume to the. music. maybe if it had been any other day they.

would have just continued the. conversation about how the cost of. living keeps going up and police. officers in South Korea we're only. getting paid like $30,000 a year it's. not fair we're saving lives but not. today today was their day to celebrate. it's National Police day and the 11 Soul. metropolitan police officers are heading. in their bright blue van to receive. awards for their exceptional performance. so they're they're excited they're not. talking about keepa prices today they're.

having a blast there was this slightly. Bittersweet undertone to it all because. this was also the last day for one of. the officers in the van which sounds I. don't know dramatic right but they're. not just co-workers I mean these. officers have been working together on. the force for some of them months some. of them years a lot of officers say. other than family the only people I. would trust with my own life are my. partners on duty if my partner is out. there chasing a knife wielding criminal. we're doing it together together if my.

partner is out there giving out parking. tickets we're doing it together if my. partner is receiving an award for. exceptional performance we're doing it. together this would be their last ride. all together so they're turning up the. volume to this very upbeat song it's. called cocktail love it's honestly the. last song that you would expect police. officers to be jamming out to it's a bit. of contrast too with the rainy morning. outside and they're singing along while. staring out the window and they're. looking into the river the Han river. that their Crossing and then boom.

it hits them what the hell was that they. turned down the music and the driver. says it's nothing it was just like a. small Stone you know sometimes the. stones come up from the road it hit the. windshield that was a big Stone I think. though cuz that that sound was loud but. now with the music turned off their ears. are alert no but what's that sound the. car gets quiet and they're trying to. listen and it's like this low like. noise it almost kind of sounds like the.

beginning of Thunder like a rumble. almost it's it's a deep toque noise it's. like one that you would feel in your. bones the officer driving the car. officer Lee he was going to ask the. group what they thought the strange deep. noise was you know cuz it's clearly not. normal but his officers start yelling. from the back break hit the brakes hit. the brakes he looks up at the road ahead. of him and the road ahead looks like. it's rising it looks like the road is. getting taller out of nowhere how is.

that even possible how is it getting. lifted they're on a bridge is this some. sort of like weird optical illusion or. some sort of earthquake and as quickly. as the road ahead of them looked like it. was growing taller it just vanished. completely it disappeared and then they. felt this really odd strange. weightlessness in their stomach like. their stomachs were just floating around. inside of their bodies and then boom. some of the officers screamed others. fell everything go black most of them.

fainted but one thing was for certain. the next time that they looked out the. window they were in the middle of the. Han River 21-year-old officer Lee the. driver of the police van he opened up. the driver's side door and there was so. much noise when he opened that door. emergency Sirens getting closer and. closer people are screaming screaming. for help help he has to help so he's. forcing his trembling legs to try and. move out the car because he's shaking up.

it feels like a war zone it feels like. there's bullets just flying towards them. from all different angles and now that. he's out of the car he realizes it's not. bullets it's Stone like thousands of. pieces of gravel are just plummeting. from the sky landing on him near him. clinking off the polican into the water. creating these giant splashes he could. barely keep his eyes open from all that. dust and then the cold wind not just the. wind of the Han River but the. helicopters there's helicopters just.

circling around and he's trying to. squint and look up and 66 ft above him. seven stories above him is the bridge. that he had been driving across just. moments ago it had a giant section just. ripped from it in the middle it's like. someone punched down into the bridge. taking a giant piece of slab down to the. Han River he could see peeking over the. bridge like the edge of the bridge up. there 66 ft above him are people.

firefighters looking terrified. he's like why do they look so terrified. he turns his eyes back down and turns. around in a full circle they were on a. sinking Island a piece of concrete the. slab from the bridge that was missing. was now floating in the Han River about. to sink at any moment Lee turns to his. right there's people screaming from. inside the water they're being Swept. Away by the current he turned turn to. his left there is blood seeping into the.

concrete turning it fully dark red he. looks up and he sees a Bus full of. people upside down and the bus is. completely squashed he could see long. strands of hair just soaked in blood. peeking out from the bus Windows. backpacks were ripped apart and loose. shreds of homework were just sitting in. pools of thick blood the next stop for. this bus would have been muh Hawk girls. high school in Korea most high schools. don't start class until 8:10 a.m. but.

technically if you're not in your seat. by 7:50 a.m. you're considered late so. most students they try to shuffle into. the classrooms by I don't know 7:30 a.m. so you have some time to settle down set. up your little station catch up with. your friends finish eating the breakfast. that you bought at the convenience store. apparently they call it reading time but. most students they do not sit calmly and. read a book ready for the day to start. they're running around from going from. class to class treating it like a recess. doing their hair fixing their makeup. playing with their like phones they're.

doing everything they're running taking. pictures eating snacks and at muhaw. girls high school most of the students. were really good about getting to class. on time except Friday October 21st. the teachers of muak girls high school. walk into their classrooms and they look. around there's eight empty seats no one. had called ahead of time usually if. students are sick the parents will call. if students are late parents will call. eight unexcused lateness tardiness. absence strange you know like one or two.

they're used to that maybe but eight. they look out the window and it's just. rain droplets pouring down okay maybe. they're late from the rain but still I. mean it rains all the time they're on. time. we're not sure how everyone at the. school found out like maybe a teacher. ran out of the staff room yelling at. everyone like turn on the TVs maybe a. student had heard about it and ran into. the school saying did you guys see what. happened but very quickly during Home. Room period muhaw girls high school.

students found out that the bridge. leading straight to their school that. most of their classmates and friends. took every single morning to get to. class had collapsed and those eight. Empty Chairs belonging to their friends. they may never be filled again every. single channel on TV every radio station. was playing the same thing a shocking. incident has occurred this morning. during a severe traffic jam during rush. hour this hungu bridge has collapsed. nearly 100 ft of of the road collapsed. and broke off into the Han River taking.

down multiple vehicles with it. eventually the police fire department. and Soldiers on base nearby would be. dispatched to this collapse bridge in. total 1,500 people were mobilized to the. scene. some of the news reports started sharing. suspicions that North Korea was. attacking South Korea that they had. bombed the bridge causing it to collapse. it was reported by world leaders that. there's a genuine risk of war that would. involve chemical biological and nuclear. weap weapons the nonpartisan.

Congressional research service estimates. that North Korea could rain down on Soul. with 10,000 Rockets per minute killing. 300,000 South Koreans in a single day if. they wanted to experts estimate that in. the long run if North Korea attacks. South Korea millions could die from this. type of escalation so people are. thinking maybe this is just the. beginning maybe this is the work of a. North Korean rocket while news stations. are on high alert about anything. regarding North Korea all the students. at the all girls high school are just.

terrified they're so anxious that their. friends are not showing up to class and. that bridge being the main method of. transportation for many of them it's. making them feel panicked they try to. find out if someone released a list of. names or what about the vehicles that. were crashed wait what car does y's dad. drive again what what about Sarah. they said it's only a few Vehicles right. like what are the odds that they were on. that section of the bridge like we need. to calm down right it's going to be okay. they had no answers all they could do. was wait holding on to their breath.

sitting at their seats not able to focus. on any of their schoolwork and slowly. more reports came out about the collapse. including the fact that public bus bus. number 16 was on the bridge when it went. down bus number 16 was packed like. sardines this is Rush shower in South. Korea there are students with their. backpacks being squish by men in suits. with their briefcases security guards. heading to work trying to close their. shoulders in to make room for more. people bus number 16 had made it across.

the part of the bridge that collapsed. according to the news by half of its. length the part of the bridge that. collapsed went down and bus number 16. half of the bus was on the part that did. not collapse and the other half of the. bus was suspended in the air that's even. worse yeah there was no concrete no. ground supporting the back half of the. bus it was essentially dangling. the driver of the bus according to.

witness statements tried to accelerate. to move the rest of the bus to the part. of the bridge that hadn't collapsed move. it to safety but it was nearly an. impossible feat a standard city bus. weighs as much as 44,000 lb with all the. passenger squished inside that is the. weight of a whale shark imagine a whale. shark that is half off of a bridge how. would you stop it from falling. the bus driver he tried his best to not. let the bus fall but there's just. nothing you can do you cannot go up. against physics like that he tried.

Witnesses stated that he accelerated all. the way until the rear wheel of the bus. hit the edge of the broken bridge but it. got caught on the jagged Stone. oh my gosh the bus driver accelerated. with everything he had but because the. rear wheels were caught it caused the. entire body of the bus to go up the bus. to a degree was now vertical because. he's accelerating so much and the back. wheel is getting caught it was erecting. itself up on the middle of the bridge.

drivers on the bridge were staring in. horror because they knew that there was. nothing that they could do to help the. bus went up and then fell back. into the hole the bus made almost a. semicircle as it fell all the way down. 66 ft and crashed onto the concrete slab. that had broken off into the river the. bus was in the worst condition because. the other vehicles that had fallen with. the slab there was a crash they were.

injured there were a lot of serious. injuries but because they didn't fall on. to the crash the impact was not as hard. bus number 16 was crushed like an. aluminum soda can. bus number 16 was the bus that many of. the all girls high school kids took to. get to school the next stop on the bus. right after they crossed the bridge. would have been muhaw girls high school. many families would later bring up the. butterfly effect and side note just to. clarify I am only bringing up these.

types of questions and even the. butterfly effect because a lot of the. families of the victims were talking. about it and it just became a topic of. discussion amongst a lot of news. networks at the time I personally do not. think any member of any victim's family. should feel this way because then it. just it gets really easy to place blame. on ourselves which I just don't agree. with a lot of families stated that they. kept thinking what if I just made my. family members a little late that day by. 5 Seconds could that have changed things. like what if I forced them to wake up.

earlier would that have made things. different I was thinking they're so. tired maybe I should let them sleep in. but what if I had just woken them up on. time would they be coming home tonight. they just kept blaming themselves and. thinking about the butterfly effect the. butterfly effect is the idea that small. seemingly trivial non-consequential. events or decisions ultimately result in. something with a much larger consequence. so a dramatic example would be a small. butterfly flaps its wings in South Korea.

and somehow this tiny change in air. pressure and wind would somehow lead to. another tiny tiny little event where. someone kind of slaps their hair around. like this that leads to another tiny. tiny event and another and another and. then it gradually snowballs and it would. eventually cause a tornado in New York. or the idea that if you had a pile of. sand you think okay if I just remove a. single grain of sand from this giant. pile it seems so trivial who's going to. miss that tiny gra of sand who's going. to even know that I took a tiny grain of.

sand but it would change the entire pile. of sand. the butterfly effect is often referenced. in time travel movies and shows because. the idea that you can go back into time. and you do something that you believe. won't do anything and it changes the. future forever one of the most famous. Classics is about a man who travels back. 65 million years to shoot a dinosaur. he's like this is my dream to kill a. T-Rex now according to history the T-Rex. was going to die anyway that day because.

a fallen tree would land on it killing. it but he's obsessed he's obsessed with. wanting to kill this T-Rex so he time. travels and the tour guide takes him. there time travel tour guide but when he. goes up to shoot the T-Rex the man. starts getting scared the T-Rex is so. big like what if the bullet doesn't kill. him and it just makes him angry and then. the T-Rex is going to kill me he's. Frozen in fear the guide has to step off. the path cuz they have a time travel. path step off the path to shoot the. T-Rex so that it won't kill them them. they time travel back to the future and.

everything has changed language is no. longer the same an evil dictator is now. in power and it just doesn't make sense. the T-Rex was going to die that day. anyway from a Fallen Tree why does it. matter if it was shot or not it's dead. ultimately the T-Rex was going to die. they look down and they see a crushed. butterfly stuck to their Boot and the. story shows how just them stepping off. the path stepping on a butterfly changes. history forever. it's terrifying on its own if you think.

about it too long but a lot of parents. of the victims in this story they just. kept bringing up the butterfly effect. they said they kept asking themselves. could things have played out differently. somehow maybe I would have asked if they. wanted a coffee and if they drank a. coffee before they headed out then they. wouldn't have been on that part of the. bridge or maybe I could have made them. wake up 5 minutes earlier or maybe the. night before I made them sleep 5 minutes. earlier or maybe I was going to going to. shower but I could have just let them. shower first or what if they weree a.

specific tennis shoe that takes a few. extra seconds longer to tie could that. have changed the outcome of things yaa. had stayed up late at night drawing. again she was a junior at the muha girls. high school and after all of her studies. her one guilty pleasure at night was to. just draw the next morning Friday. morning she woke up a teeny tiny bit. later than usual I mean at this rate she. was going to miss her bus to school and. yuna's Dad offered her hey I'm going to. drive to work the bus stop is on the way.

get in the car I'm going to drop you off. at the bus stop yaa did not even respond. to him she grabbed her backpack got in. his car and she crossed her arms and. stared out the window you's dad is. trying to make eye contact with his. daughter to see if there was an opening. for conversation. but nothing she refused to look at him. and she just stared out the window it. was kind of a cold war yuna's dad had. spanked her a few days ago and you know. she's a high schooler so they're having. having like a it's very normal it seemed.

like neither of them wanted to apologize. first so the whole drive all the way to. the bus stop they don't say a single. word to each other when he Parks the car. he turns to his daughter but she's. already out the door and she's saying K. which means I'll see you at home later. and she closes the door and she walks. off to the bus stop and when she gets. there the bus is not there and she's. wondering did I miss the bus. oh man when is the next one going to get. a hair and she watches as her dad drives. off off another student from the same. school wuh Hawk girls high school was.

trying to make it to that same bus stop. she was a senior though her name is. Sarah and she had overslept she stayed. up studying for the college entrance. exam like this girl had not known a good. night's rest in a really long time she. barely washed her face barely brushed. her teeth by the time that she's running. out the front door with her backpack. thrown over one shoulder her mom's. telling her be careful and she's running. as fast as she can trying to not get CAU. behind all these very sweet very kind. but incredibly slow slow walking elderly. people sorry sorry excuse me excuse me.

she could see the bus stop at this point. and she sees the bus that she's supposed. to be on this is the last one that she. could take in order to not be laid for. school is stopped at the bus stop. letting passengers on so she's screaming. running waving her arms wait don't leave. please I'm coming I'm coming. only one of the two students from the. muh Hawk girls high school would be. alive by the end of the day snow globes. are a little sadistic if you think about.

it like there's a cute family inside of. this clear sphere and you see the family. and their dog and their little house in. the back and you pick it up and you. shake it with everything you have and. then you just excitedly watch as they. have to face this cold blizzard all by. themselves we are genuinely the makers. of chaos. the 11 police officers who all managed. to survive the collapse they felt like. they were in a snow globe they had been. living their lives to to the best of. their abilities following the laws. starting their own families and some.

sadistic unknown person had come by and. violently shaked up their world and even. now they feel like they're in a snow. globe 66 ft under the bridge in the. middle of the Han River they could see. they could hear the helicopters above. them they could see the fire trucks. parked at the top of the bridge above. them Rescuers heads just poking over the. edge staring at them they could hear. them barking all sorts of orders over. the megaphones we need a port here get. the equipment down here someone. mobilized the cruise ships but being.

police officers they knew nobody was. prepared for anything like this they. knew that they didn't have time to wait. for any of that they could hear people. screaming help me help me they all start. whipping around to try and find out. who's screaming who needs help most. urgently one of the officers points into. the water there are two people being. Swept Away by the current they're going. to die the Han river is known to have. really strong currents to the point that. it's advised that you only swim in the. designated Beach areas it would take. just a moment for them to disappear with. the current and just be dragged under.

the water the rain is making it even. harder for the officers to see but they. cannot miss these tiny two dots in the. water because right next to them is. their half submerged car going down when. the bridge collapsed and all hell broke. loose the silver car landed directly in. the water instead of on the concrete. Island two teachers that were in the car. managed to escape the quickly sinking. vehicle but now they're at risk of. drowning unless someone saves them so. the officers are screaming get the tire. the officers didn't even think about.

what they're doing they're going into. full autopilot mode they're trained to. act in crisis situation so that's. exactly what they're doing they're. focused get the tire they work in unison. to grab the spare tire connect it to a. rope and they hurl it into the river. grab the tire the tire did not reach the. teachers it's not working they're only. getting further away they're getting. dragged by the current so two of the. officers they look at each other they. look at the others and without. hesitation or saying a single word they. dive into the cold water they managed to.

reach the two teachers and bring them. back to the concrete Island the two. teachers teacher Kim and teacher Park. soaking wet their hair is sticking to. their foreheads they're grabbing on to. the wet police officers there's two more. teachers in the car please they're they. are co-workers we car poool with them. for the past 2 years you need to go get. them the other two teachers. would never make it back to their. classrooms and then the cries became un. bearable all the police officers could. hear were people begging to be saved to.

be helped some were screaming in a. frantic high-pitched voice others were. moaning as if they had stacks of braks. on top of them and this is all the air. they can muster out. the officers look over at the bus that. crashed down next to them and it's. flipped upside down and in the impact of. the crash of it crashing onto this. concrete Island it had been completely. squashed if you stood next to the bus. now it would come back to your waist. that's how tall it was the bus was. flipped upside down but it's crushed to.

the point where certain parts of the bus. the floor is touching the ceiling of the. bus it's like if someone stepped on. aluminum soda can completely crushing it. pancaking it there were bus chairs. popping out of the bus just scattered. outside parts of the metal walls of the. bus had popped off and they crumbled on. the side of the bus the glass windows. are all broken school bags lunch boxes. of students are protruding out of the. bus soaked in liquid. it it was blood.

21-year-old officer Lee remembered. looking at the bus seeing the blood. flowing out like a squashed juice juice. can and he said there were layers of. people on top of people it was literally. hell on Earth but he has to snap out of. it voices are calling at him to help he. goes back into Focus mode trying not to. think about who these people are what's. going on where everybody was headed the. fact that 2 seconds ago he was headed to.

receive an award he's not thinking about. his family he's thinking about saving. lives and that is it. the situation was being broadcasted live. in all news stations in South Korea by. the helicopter circling above the people. trapped in the collapse were really in. their own snow globe the whole nation is. watching them without any single way to. help. all the police officers would be seen on. the news stations on the sinking Island. wearing nothing but their underwear. but it's only 40° outside officer Lee.

and the other officer start pulling. people out as gently as possible from. this crushed bus and all the other. officers that are assisting they they. would pull a person out a middle-aged. Man suit covered in blood students in. uniform covered in blood they would look. at the officers and they would say thank. you I'm so cold. and with each person they pulled out of. the wreckage the officers would just. start shedding articles of their clothes. every single person that they rescued. out of the bus told them I'm so cold and.

they're shivering and the officers knew. that that is a dangerous combination so. blood loss causes your core body. temperature to fall it can actually lead. to hypothermia and death normal body. temperatures are at 98.6 but when it. falls below 95° F you're at risk of your. body shutting down hypothermia can lead. to complete failure of your heart by. causing an irregular heartbeat. respiratory systems go down and. eventually that leads to death and a lot. of these people being pulled out of the. bus are showing signs of hypothermia.

yeah it's only 40° outside but from. blood loss they're becoming hypothermic. not to mention it's the end of October. before 8:00 a.m. even just being outside. would have been chilly in South Korea. but on the Han River those current those. winds it likely feels much colder and. it's raining. officer Lee would take off his police. jacket and give it to the first person. he pulled out then he ripped off his. shirt gave it to the next person then. his pant he pulled another person out of. the bus a student they said I'm so cold.

and he looked down he has no more. clothes he's in just his underwear and. he's thinking quick on his feet he runs. to the police van and he starts ripping. the car seat covers to take off so that. he can provide some sort of warmth and. when it finally rips off the seat he. runs towards the student he just pulled. out and he said I got it here take the. the student was dead. the officers had to keep going though. even it just started to feel pointless. and painful they rushed to get everybody.

out of the bus and cover them with car. seat covers they would ask the person. they just pulled out aashi are you okay. do you need help right now is this warm. enough here take the car seat cover no. no no thank you thank you so much go. save the others go. the officers would turn around go back. into the bloody bus drag another person. out and place them right down next to. the aashi who was now dead in another. instance officer Lee pulled pulled out a. man from the bus he's covered in blood. badly injured he's still actively.

bleeding and like the others he. desperately needs medical attention I. mean this is life or death officer Lee. sits him down and he's reassuring him. like Just Hold On Tight Okay aashi the. rescue boats are coming they're going to. be here very very soon just stay awake. the officer Lee looks up out into the. river to see where the rescue boats are. how far in the distance they are and he. starts smiling because he can see them. speeding towards the concrete Island and. this is good and he looks down the man.

is dead. it felt like every time they rescued. someone they would turn around to help. someone else and the person they just. rescued would be dead they were alive 2. seconds ago and now they're dead. it would take 30 minutes for the rescue. boats to arrive. rescue operations began and bodies were. carried onto boats on stretchers. helicopters used rescue B bags to now. lift dead bodies rescue teams took way.

too long when they first heard the. bridge collaps most of them made their. way onto the bridge to the giant hole in. the center but what the hell are you. going to do from there so they wasted a. lot of time driving back off the bridge. finding boats to get to them to get to. the side of the Collapse by water this. time it was also later revealed that the. call center employees briefly thought. all the calls coming in about the. collapse were prank calls so they wasted. even more time that they could used to. save lives by contacting the correct. people like the Navy 32 people died that.

day nine being students and 17 more. people were injured. it is widely believed that if the rescue. boats had come sooner more people would. have been saved and now with the rescue. teams doing what they should have done. 30 minutes ago administering Medical. Care the 11 police officers they sat. down to catch their breath for the very. first time since the collapse officer. Lee he's 21 he called his dad dad. because he usually reports to his. parents and I believe he was still in a.

State of Shock though because he just. told his dad very bluntly everything. that happened like he was still on. autopilot I mean he was so nonchalant he. stated yeah Dad hungu Bridge collapsed. and uh I got I rescued some people out. so it's fine don't worry about it and. his dad respond a okay tush be safe and. he hung up it did not register in that. moment for officer Lee's dad what his. son was saying after the line went dead. his dad stood there processing what his.

precious son had just told him and he. immediately called him back and he. screamed into the phone you're where the. hungu bridge was a symbol of economic. power the hungu bridge was built 15. years before it collapsed I mean it was. part of the government's plan to. modernize to before the Summer Olympics. were coming listen don't even get me. started on the Olympics and what the. cities will do for Olympics it was going. to be held in Korea they wanted so to be. cleaned up the government spent $470. million to clean up the Han River just.

clean it up from pollution they said the. Han is like clothing to the people of s. so this is uh Olympics 1990s yeah. something to wear daily with pride. something to keep clean our fathers and. their fathers would swim in the Han it's. our lifeblood. and yet 32 people had just died because. the bridge collapsed into the Han River. and there were signs that the bridge was. going to go down 10 hours before the.

bridge collapsed a large gap had formed. in one of the joints on the floor of the. bridge like you could look into it and. see water it was a large gap Sol city. was alerted and they sent workers out. there to lay a small iron plate on top. of the Gap so that nobody's tires would. get stuck and it wasn't even yeah I say. small iron plate it's not small it was. 4T by 7 ft they were trying to put a. Band-Aid on a bridge literally quite. literally they put a Band-Aid on the. bridge SLA a bandaid on this was 160 ft.

from the side of the collapse they were. going to repair the joint later they. said but they postponed it due to bad. weather which is fine but then why not. just shut the bridge down until it's. repaired the next morning about an hour. and a half prior to the bridge. collapsing reports started coming in. that people could hear these creaking. noises coming from the bridge you know. those horror movies where they walk into. those old haunted houses and it feels. like the entire house is thundering they. said it sounded like that but on a. bridge which can't be great it sounds.

like a monster like deep low rumbles and. creaking noises it sounds like it's. echoing too like something big is. Shifting it sounds like thunder inside. of the bridge Soul City said once again. that they would check it out but after. the rain stopped less than an hour later. the bridge collapsed. over 30 people died and more were. missing. search teams consisting of 150 Personnel. were sent into into the water to locate. more bodies professional divers the Navy.

were all involved they found the silver. car with the two remaining teachers. inside they had drowned and a little. while later Searchers came across. another fully submerged vehicle a gry. Hyundai and the driver had not been able. to escape from the submerged vehicle he. was also dead after 5 days they called. off the search and no more bodies were. found in that area of the Han River 32. dead 29 from the bus nine of them being. students and three that drowned. muhaw girl's high school graduation was.

4 months after this everyone showed up I. mean even students who weren't. graduating that year parents of students. they all rallied to show support for. eight students that would never be. coming back many of the parents of the. deceased brought in a single yellow. tulip in memory of their children. Sarah brought one in too. the bus never waited for Sarah Sarah the. one that collapsed and that is the only.

reason that she survived she said when I. got on the next bus the bus driver said. that we couldn't go by this hungu Bridge. route and I was surprised that we passed. a different bridge to go to school I ran. into the classroom cuz I was late and. everyone was crying and hugging me. everyone thought that something had. happened to me because I hadn't come to. school on time they were playing the. news I said youa and her dad had a big. fight a few days before she was killed. most high schoolers they like have a. hatred for parents lecturing them and in.

that car her dad thought wow she's. really mad at me but you know is she's a. high schooler she didn't know how to. apologize yet and she didn't know when. was the appropriate time to give her dad. this letter because she felt like her. dad was still mad at her and so she. saved that letter in her backpack and it. read to my loving Dad Dad I can't hide. my tears whenever I think about you I. know that your heart must hurt a 100 or. a thousand more times when you spank me. Dad don't think that you spanked me.

think of it as you were spanking the bad. thing inside of me and I really really. really love you so much that it feels. like my heart is going to explode and I. promise I'm just going to keep doing my. best to make you proud UPA fighting. and it was signed from Yuna who loves. her dad very much yuna's Dad would die 2. years later from a serious health. condition but but friends and family. knew that he was in a rush to go tell. Yuna that he received her letter another.

family the kangs they lost their. youngest son Peter in the collapse when. Mr and Mrs King heard that Peter was. gone that he was killed in the collapse. they fell to the ground and they were. slamming their fists down screaming. Peter Peter it was Peter's last day at. work today he had quit his job to focus. on his studies of becoming an accountant. and his parents felt guilty they. couldn't help but think had the collapse. happened just a day later had Peter just. quit a day earlier.

the precious Sun would be alive today. bridges are all about balance to. simplify it when you have a force going. down like Gravity the structure is going. to go down but when you have a force. going up and a force coming down the. structure can stay still if it's. perfectly balanced now there's a ton of. different types of bridges but all of. them are about balancing forces so take. a beam bridge for example this is the. cheapest simple type of bridge so. picture you get two stools two chairs.

together you place them a few feet apart. and then place a wooden plank on top. there you have a beam bridge now let's. say you want to make this beam bridge. longer you got to get creative because. imagine you just push the chairs further. apart and try to balance a longer wooden. plank suddenly the weight is going to. feel heavier it's going to start sloping. down in the middle of that wooden plank. when you put weight on it right it looks. like it's going to snap in half so what. do you do I mean technically you could. add another chair in the middle to. balance out the weight but that's not. the cheapest or the easiest solution you.

want to keep a good chair distance from. each chair so you don't want to spend so. many chairs on this wooden plank so what. do you do you add Tresses to it imagine. you have four toothpicks you tape them. up into a square how easy would it be. for you to take your finger put it on. the one corner of the square push it. down and suddenly it's not a square. anymore it's a different shape it's. pretty easy right cuz it's just going. so what would be the best way to ensure. that it doesn't tilt.

doesn't tilt oh you add like two more in. the middle cross it just add one just. add one diagonal so now instead of a. square it looks like two triangles. triangular support systems are great in. Bridge structures I mean they're great. at holding their shape and not falling. to pressure it's very evenly distributed. and that's what a truss is so this hungu. bridge was a trust bridge that relied on. these triangular support beams to hold. it up so so there would be a pillar or a. chair and then um the bridge part that.

the cars are driving on would be on top. of these triangular support systems and. then another pillar and then more. triangular support systems and it means. that the bridge can use way less pillars. or chairs in our example so for context. another bridge in South Korea would be. categorized more as like a steel beam. bridge like a regular bridge each pillar. or chair is about 110 ft apart this. hungu bridge the pillars are almost 400. ft apart. because the hungu bridge has these. triangular support systems which is. typically a very smart and safe way to.

create good Bridges but that also means. one of the most important parts of this. bridge is going to be the truss the. toothpick part and it's not actually. toothpicks they're steel beams but you. get the idea and more importantly one of. the most important things are going to. be how the toothpicks are attached to. each other to create these triangular. shapes the joints that's what's welded. together that's the welding part so. another analogy that's hopefully going. to make it super easy to see how. horrible this hungu bridge was.

constructed if you have to tape two. pieces of paper together the cheapest. way to do it would be what you get four. pieces of double-sided sticky tape put. them on each corner of one piece of tape. slap them on the corners of the piece of. paper slap the other paper on top but. let's say you want to spend a little. more money make it a little more secure. maybe you tape the borders all four. sides and then slap the other piece of. paper on top or if there are millions of. lives on the line and it depends on.

these two pieces of paper being taped. together for years through all sorts of. weather conditions the best thing that. you can do would not just be tape the. corners or the borders but everything. apply double-sided sticky tape to the. entire page and then stick the other. paper on top of it every part is. essentially glued together the tungu. bridge Constructors were supposed to do. that but they just taped the borders and. called it a day for the joints of these. trusses the triangular support systems. why to save money.

what to save time and money a lot of. money. they also didn't use high quality tape. or welding materials if you want to you. know it was actually stated that the. bridge should have collapsed maybe like. 4 years after it was built it was that. bad of construction I mean once they. started investigating people were. surprised how this bridge even lasted. this long a Korean news station NBC went. underwater to the scene the accident of. the concrete Island and they saw that. the collapsed portion trusses the.

Triangular support systems were held. together and the welding they could. literally unscrew bolts with their own. hands. what other Rusty parts of the bridge. could just be ripped apart by a single. hand like the cameraman had one camera. in his hand and then the other hand was. just ripping apart the bridge wow other. times there were parts of the bridge. that needed nails to hold two things. together very important obviously now. the nail is supposed to be let's say say. a foot long but the nail would only be 3. in Long the part the welding the taped.

paper it broke off during the collapse. and it looked like it exploded from the. weight it straight up looks like a. cardboard box that was torn open like it. was not done at all like I mentioned. previously Tor was going through this. rapid expansion phase government bids. for construction projects would. typically go to companies that promised. the government that they had the fastest. construction which is great in theory. because yeah we need more bridges to. cross the Han River but not great in. theory because it inherently. incentivized the company to be cheap and.

Rush the construction at the expense of. safety people said that this was all. part of South Korea's belly belly. culture so belly belly it translates to. like hurry hurry quickly quickly but in. the cultural context belly belly culture. is kind of like rushing people to do. things quickly or get something done at. a faster Pace you will very often hear. Korean saying like B belly like B like. hurry hurry everybody hurry you go to. Korea you're standing on the side for 2. seconds too long people are like you got. to hurry it up it's similar to New York.

where no one has time for you to just. stop in the middle of the sidewalk. deliveries are fast internet speeds are. fast everything is about b b the bridge. was constructed by the company Tonga ENC. they promised the government that they. would construct the bridge at half the. cost of the other construction companies. they were contracted by the government. to build almost a mile long bridge. across the Han River for $63 million. which is a lot don't get me wrong right. but a lot of major Bridges I mean albeit.

some of them are a lot longer but they. can easily cost hundreds of millions and. most of them closer to a billion dollars. wow so Tonga is charging $63 million. half of what the other contractors in. Korea are asking the government for. which sounds alarming doesn't it but the. citizens were like you know what Tonga. is the best construction company in. Korea right now it's like the second. largest contract factor in South Korea. at the time and there's nothing we can. do about it it's the government Choice.

wait so they're they asked for half and. it's going to do it in double the speed. yeah they're like we're going to do it. quicker and for cheaper so people. thought I mean not that citizens had a. choice I'm not saying the citizens voted. for this the government gives it to. whoever I guess they're sleeping in bed. with right but the citizens felt a. little bit reassured because the company. had a lot of good publicity the chairman. of Tonga chairman choy was often hailed. as some sort of construction hero they. called him the one who can accomplish. the impossible.

so if we give the government the benefit. of the doubt maybe they genuinely. thought that Tonga had some sort of. crazy system or skill to make things. happen more efficiently and cheaper than. other companies. after the collapse Tonga made a. statement and said our company's. warranty is over the company's warranty. for the bridge was 5 years afterwards we. cannot be held responsible for the. accidents we have no legal. responsibility for this w wow it was so. cold there was nothing about the victims. it was just this is legally not my fault.

but chairman Choy of Tonga definitely. did not help the situation he visited. the scene of the collapse the day of and. he said if Tonga is responsible we will. take full responsibility. but then his tone changed a few days. later and he said in order to realize. tonga's moral responsibility as the. Constructor of this hungu bridge with. this incident we are being reborn. basically saying hey guys if you want us. to because we constructed this bridge.

morally we're taking respons not legally. don't get a twisted morally but now we. are reborn cuz we did something so great. because we morally took responsibility. eventually an investigation was opened. into the bridges collapse chairman. choy's entire attitude changed and he. said look I've been to hungu bridge. countless times driven over it let me. ask you a question would I have gone to. hungu bridge if I ordered it to be built. cheaply and fast and without regard to. safety.

the company essentially argued that the. bridge was fine for the past 15 years so. it's not their fault if it was this bad. how would it have lasted 15 years they. started Shifting the blame to so city. the city government for negligence on. maintaining the bridge they stated that. for the responsibility of managing all. the bridges over the Han river is done. by the city of s the city is required to. conduct safety inspections on facilities. every single year so does that mean they. ran their test and the results said the. bridge was fine were they not thorough. in their testing did they even test the.

bridge it was later revealed that after. 15 years of its construction this hungu. bridge was never subjected to any. detailed inspections the government. decided the bridge inspections would. focus solely on older Bridges another. very dangerous thing to note the. government never restricted heavy. vehicles from the bridge nor did they. try to limit them which that's a huge. pivotal part of ensuring the safety of. bridges because Bridges yes they're. supposed to be safe you have to make. sure that they're not overloaded though. because that could cause a collapse. there is no bridge that has Unlimited.

weight limits they're all built to only. withstand a certain amount of weight so. not only did the government completely. disregard the safe limit of the weight. they were doing more the bridge had. started off as a four-lane bridge and it. was still a four-lane bridge when it. collapsed but there were plans to get. rid of The Pedestrian Lanes on both. sides redo the bridge like the paint of. the lanes and make it five Lanes. they were going to add on more load more. heavy cars more buses more transport.

Vehicles which would add more weight to. this already exhausted stressed. structure side note now it makes it seem. like it's all the government's fault but. yeah I think it's both their fault like. both sides hold so much responsibility. tonga's construction of this bridge is. so well known internationally by. engineers and even used as a case study. for civil engineering students for the. abysmal terrifying Rec less construction. of what honestly should not even be. labeled a bridge.

allegedly Tonga hired an expert in steel. plate welding so that's like the tape. part I was telling you about the joints. the most important part very important. of a trust bridge but when that expert. insisted on hey guys we need to go a. little bit slower because we need to. inspect the steel plates thoroughly. because this is the most important part. mhm he was allegedly fired Soo. prosecutors launched a criminal. investigation into the bridge collapse. they were were in a way investigating. their own peers and they did not like. what they found so City had a contract.

with a third party company and tasked. them with handling the bridge. maintenance and repairs so let's call. that BC Corporation to keep things. simple B Corp had submitted a report to. so earlier that year so this is in. October they did it early spring they. said hey the steel joints and the beams. yeah they're compromised it is an urgent. need of repair which doesn't sound like. a we'll get to it when we get to it type. of problem but Sor did not do do. anything about it yeah October 26th less. than a week since the collapse.

prosecutors arrested seven b Corp. officials because prior to this urgent. message sent to S the bridge had so many. red flags that they didn't even inspect. like they let it get to this point they. could have flagged it earlier on but. they were too lazy to do daily reports. they never checked it out and then. finally earlier that year they finally. checked it out and they were like o no. one should be on this bridge it's going. to collapse any second now Forest H. Metropolitan government officials were. arrested for disregarding that very. urgent message sent earlier this year. about the compromise beams and just.

moving on business as usual six Tonga. construction officials were arrested for. obvious reasons for the construction of. the bridge and there was debate on. whether or not the mayor of H Mayor Lee. would also be arrested but the then. president of South Korea forced him to. step down as mayor instead which. honestly just feels like a slap on the. wrist and in the end they reive. sentences ranging from from 6 months to. 3 years in prison which is it's nothing. literally nothing a few years later.

Tonga group the parent company of Tonga. construction would file for bankruptcy. and the government promised they're like. things are going to change guys things. are going to be different from now on we. will care for civilian lives 8 months. after the Bridge's collapse this hum. department store in kangnam would. collapse killing 52 people which we have. covered in a previous episode 8 months. apart. and you can still go to this hungu. bridge today but it's not the same one. from the collapse the government at.

first they're wild they told the public. that this hungu bridge like the collapse. part would be repaired and back up and. running within 3 months no and they were. going to like fix the welding on other. parts of the bridge there was huge. public outcry and it didn't seem like. anyone would ever drive on that bridge. even if it was repaired so the. government decided to hire another. company to fully dismantle the existing. sunu bridge and build a completely new. bridge in its place the new bridge which. I I believe did recycle some parts of. the old bridge it was built by Hyundai. engineering and construction for $140.

million. and S Note the victims the deceased. victims families were compensated about. $200,000 from Sor about $52,000 from Sor. City and $60,000 from Tonga reaching. about $312,000. per victim which I mean that's nothing I. believe the injured also received a bit. of help in terms of medical bill. assistance but but really nothing the. police officers who actively rescued. people and were traumatized and were.

victims they received nothing. no compensation no mental health the. police officer we talked about from. earlier he said the only way he really. learned to cope was life is short so. even if he doesn't have a lot of money. in his pocket now he eats whatever he. wants because you don't know when your. last meal is. Officer Lee the 21 one-year-old he. struggles heavily with PTSD and. survivors guilt he said the most. regrettable thing is I couldn't save.

more people and then I lived but they. died. the news hungu Bridge would also take. the life of another victim the father of. one of the students who died in the. crash he would always visit the new. bridge when he thought of his daughter. cuz there's pedestrian Lanes but it was. just too hard on the 4th anniversary of. his daughter's death he took his own. life at the spot where the bus had. fallen. his family said he blamed himself for. not being able to protect his daughter.

many of the victim's families fainted. when they were asked to come ID their. loved ones in the beginning one mother. cried out my baby my baby how can I live. how can I live on without my child. please go look at my child and please. somebody just wipe the blood off of him. please wipe the blood off of my baby it. hurts. one family member of a victim said there. a lot of accidents with hundreds of. victims sometimes the number 32 feels. small that's why I feel like our loved.

ones get forgotten sometimes the number. is not what matters though what matters. is there should not be a single person. who ever dies like this again I don't. want the world to forget and even though. almost 30 years have passed every single. year Banners are hung up near this hungu. bridge Memorial and they read even if. the whole world forgets Umma mom will. never forget. and that is the case of this hungu. bridge collapse.

what are your thoughts if you listen to. this humon department store I mean is it. crazy knowing that this happened just 8. months prior and that still occurred. what are your thoughts leave it in the. comments and please stay safe I will see. you guys on Sunday for the next episode. bye. [Music]. yeah.