This photo shows a collapsed drilling rig leaning on a nearby apartment building at the site of a railway construction project in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on June 6, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Authorities continued recovery operations Friday at a railway construction site in the city of Yongin after a heavy drilling rig toppled into a nearby apartment building.
The accident occurred at 10:13 p.m. Thursday, when a drilling rig, which is a heavy construction machine used for boring into the ground, crashed into a 15-story apartment building at the Indeokwon–Dongtan railway construction site in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
The rig, measuring 44 meters in length and weighing 70.8 tons, had been on standby since completing work last Saturday.
According to the provincial disaster headquarters, the land ministry, the national railroad authority and local governments have conducted safety inspections and launched recovery efforts at the scene.
Three cranes have been mobilized to dismantle the collapsed rig, a process expected to take five to seven hours.
The rig is currently leaning against the apartment building, with visible damage to the exterior wall and balcony windows on the top floor.
Following the accident, about 150 residents from 60 households were evacuated. Two residents were taken to a hospital after being startled by the loud noise but did not suffer physical injuries, authorities said.
“Other than the damage to the 15th-floor exterior wall, there appear to be no structural issues with the building,” a fire department official said. “We are using drones to assess the overall site conditions as we carry out the recovery operation.”
(Yonhap)
