3 people were killed when a bridge collapsed in South Korea

Civil defense officials in the South Korean capital, Seoul, announced that three people were killed and three others were injured, following the partial collapse of a decades-old bridge that was being demolished.

Lee Jong-won, an official at the Civil Defense Station in Seoul’s Sodamun district, said that the accident occurred during a safety inspection, after workers stopped the demolition work when they noticed that part of the structure fell slightly while cutting the concrete panels, while another Seoul city official explained that one side of the overhead bridge collapsed.

Other officials reported that the three victims were crushed under rubble and debris after part of the bridge deck suddenly collapsed.

Police and emergency officials closed roads surrounding the site, where twisted steel girders and shattered concrete slabs were hanging dangerously from the edge of the bridge.

Some debris also fell on a nearby railway line, forcing the Korean Railways Corporation to suspend some flights to Seoul Station.

The bridge, built in 1966, had been “under demolition” since August 2025 due to safety concerns, and civil defense authorities issued a level one response.

Because of the incident, the People Power Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor, Oh Si-hoon, suspended his election campaign and began assessing the situation himself.