hankyoreh

A massive sinkhole formed near Seoul Daemyeong Elementary School in the Korean capital’s Myeongil neighborhood on the evening of March 24, 2025. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)

A sinkhole swallowed up four lanes of a major road in Seoul’s Gangdong District on Monday evening, trapping and killing a motorcyclist. 

According to statements from police officers and firefighters, a sinkhole formed on a road near the Seoul Daemyeong Elementary School intersection at around 6:29 pm on Monday. The sinkhole was 18 meters wide and 20 meters long and was estimated to be around 20 meters deep and continues to grow in size. 

Kim Chang-seob, the chief of the Gangdong Fire Station, addressed reporters at 11 pm on the scene, where he said rescue efforts were likely to take hours.  

“Inside the sinkhole is around 2,000 metric tons of earth and water,” Kim continued. “There is another hole [within the sinkhole] around 5 meters deep. Around 30 rescue workers in full protective gear need to parry in with ropes and physically confirm where the person fell, search the earth and water as necessary.” 

The driver of a minivan who managed to make it out of the sinkhole after the road disintegrated beneath their rear wheels was hospitalized with minor injuries. 

That morning, several small holes had been reported in nearby sewer drainage systems. They were reportedly repaired at around 5:30 pm, roughly one hour before the sinkhole appeared.

The pit is so deep that one cannot see the bottom with the naked eye. Trees alongside the road were uprooted and lay scattered around the perimeter when the Hankyoreh visited the scene. The sound of water gushing from burst pipes continued throughout the night. Around 50 local residents gathered around with looks of worry on their faces. 

“It looks like the sinkhole is progressively getting deeper,” said Kim, 42, who lives in a nearby apartment. “All the nearby apartment complexes are in a blackout, and local schools and academies have canceled classes.”

Police and fire authorities have cordoned off the area surrounding a massive sinkhole in Seoul’s Myeongil neighborhood on the evening of March 24, 2025. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)

After the sinkhole appeared, the sound of high-tension power lines snapping boomed throughout the area. The Korea Electric Power Corporation cut off power to the area to prevent additional accidents. Water to the area was also cut off to prevent the sinkhole from being flooded. 

Schools in the area sent out notices of classes being canceled out of safety concerns. 

Kim, 72, who lives nearby, said, “They were building subway lines and highways and doing reconstruction projects all at the same time, so naturally, there were concerns about a sinkhole.” 

Firefighting authorities have announced that the sinkhole may have been caused by water pipes running underneath the road bursting. Around the time of the sinkhole’s formation, construction workers were doing work on extending Line 9 of the Seoul Metro. 

“There was construction work being conducted beneath the sinkhole. Around five to six workers saw water leaking and got out in time,” a firefighting official said. 

Firefighting authorities are expected to conduct an investigation into the potential correlation between subway line construction and the formation of the sinkhole. 

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon arrived at the scene around 9:50 pm. 

“The sinkhole is growing, so we are restricting access to the area,” Oh announced, saying that authorities were doing everything they could to rescue the victim. 

At a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Kim Chang-seob of the Gangdong Fire Station said that the body of the 33-year-old man who had been trapped in the sinkhole had been recovered at around 11:22 that morning, 17 hours after falling in. 

By Jeong Bong-bi, staff reporter; Jang Soo-kyung, staff reporter

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