Today, let’s talk about a tragic building safety accident in South Korea: Sanfeng Department Store collapsed. In 20 seconds, more than 1,500 people were buried alive, eventually killing 502 people.

号号号号号号号号号号号号号号

Building safety rarely attracts everyone's attention like today.

Today, let’s talk about a tragic building safety accident in South Korea:

Sanfeng Department Store collapsed.

20 seconds, more than 1,500 people were buried alive, eventually causing 502 deaths.

This disaster is the worst disaster accident with casualties in peacetime in South Korea, and it is also the second most tragic safety accident in the world that the self-collapse of buildings collapsed on their own.

Sanfeng Department Store (삼풍백화점) is a department store invested by Sanfeng Construction Industry in South Korea, located in a prime location in Seocho District, Seoul. The

project started construction in October 1987 and started business in December 1989.

Sanfeng Department Store is positioned at the high-end. It was the most luxurious department store in South Korea at that time, second only to the Lotte Department Store in terms of scale.

receives more than 40,000 customers in a week and has a turnover of more than 4 million US dollars. The turnover of

was undoubtedly an astronomical figure in the 1990s.

So, Sanfeng Department Store quickly became a landmark building in Seoul.

However, who would have thought that such a luxurious and brand new building would collapse with a bang. The

event occurred at 5:57 pm on June 29, 1995.

At that time, the A-level building of Sanfeng Department Store, which was in business, began to collapse. In 20 seconds, the 5th-floor department store floor collapsed into the 4 underground floors. More than

1500 people were buried alive. After the incident of

, investigators quickly began to investigate the cause of the collapse of the building.

Investigators first thought of a gas explosion, because there were many gas explosion accidents in Seoul at that time.

However, there are no burning traces that are usually found in gas explosions.

So, this possibility is excluded.

Later, some people believed that it might be a terrorist attack or an accident intentionally created in the north.

However, terrorist attacks generally use explosives. There were no signs of explosion at the scene of

.

So, this possibility is also excluded.

inspectors made various ideas and were also excluded.

In fact, investigators overestimated human nature because the collapse of a building is simply a man-made disaster.

It can even be said that from the beginning, this building was destined to collapse and so many people were going to die.

At the beginning, the original design of this building was an office building with 4 floors above ground and 4 floors below ground.

But Sanfeng thought it would be more profitable to open a department store, so they advocated changing it to a department store and adding another layer on the ground.

The relevant personnel of Woosung Construction, who was responsible for building the house at that time, believed that there was a risk of collapse, so they felt that the expansion was inappropriate.

Sanfeng simply fired up Woosung Construction and let your own construction company do it.

Added the fifth floor, which added the building to a weight of 3,000 tons.

Moreover, during construction, 1/4 of the pillars in the building were demolished, and the number of steel bars was used was reduced.

That's not over yet.

Originally covered with the 5th floor was an ice rink. In order to make more money, Sanfeng changed it to 8 restaurants.

Due to the Korean weather, some merchants have installed floor heating again.

building 3 large air conditioners (total weight 29 tons). After filling up water, the total weight is as high as 87 tons. It is also placed on the top floor, which is as much as 4 times the weight that can withstand.

on-site search and rescue pictures

Even so, in fact, people could have avoided deaths.

Because in April that year, cracks appeared on the ceiling of the 5th floor, and the management also knew about this situation, but did not pay attention to it.

On the morning of June 29, the cracks on the top floor increased, but it was only closed on the top floor and air conditioning.

In the afternoon, the situation became more and more serious, and the ceiling on the 4th floor began to fall.

Someone has already suggested that the building should be closed and evacuated, but the management still refuses to listen.

Because the night is coming soon, it is the peak of passenger flow. Once it is closed, the loss is real money.

Just like that, until 5:57 pm, the building collapsed instantly...

1500 salesmen and customers were buried instantly.

Scene after collapse

Of course, many disasters in the world are often involved in corruption.

Sanfeng Department Store collapsed is no exception.

Originally, commercial facilities could not be built according to the plan.

However, after Sanfeng bribed relevant officials in Ruicao District, he successfully changed the purpose of the plot.

This is also the first step in the beginning of the disaster. Compared with more than 500 unjust souls, the punishment received by the parties involved is an understatement.

Chairman Lee Joon was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 7 years and 6 months. Li Zhongyu and Huang Zhemin, the heads of Ruicao District who accepted bribes, were sentenced to 10 months and fined 2 million won.

Those who steal the hook will be punished, and those who steal the country will be punished.

The world is in trouble.

What do you think about the collapse of Sanfeng Building in South Korea? Welcome to chat in the message area.