SEOUL– The death toll from a concrete formwork collapse at a construction site in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, last week has risen to three as another worker died, authorities said Sunday.

Five workers pouring cement at the low-temperature warehouse construction site in the city, 67 kilometers south of Seoul, plunged about 10 meters after a cement formwork collapsed on the structure’s fourth floor on Friday.

Three of the five workers — all foreigners — were transported to hospitals in a state of cardiac arrest, and two of the three, both Chinese nationals in their 30s, died on Friday.

Police officials said the other died Sunday morning. The worker had initially suffered a cardiac arrest, but later recovered a normal pulse rate and been under treatment in a state of unconsciousness.

Police said they will soon request an autopsy by the National Forensic Service to determine the exact cause of their deaths.

The new warehouse construction was ordered by KY Logis, a Seoul-based logistics company, and was being carried out by a contractor named SGC eTEC E&C.
On Sunday, Ahn Chan-kyu, the chief executive of SGC eTEC E&C, apologized over the incident and vowed to cooperate with authorities to get to the bottom of the case.

“(The company) won’t evade any responsibility and will take all available steps to settle the matter,” Ahn said during a press conference held in front of the construction site.

The chief of the construction company has been booked on charges of violating the workplace disaster prevention law, according to sources.

Source: Yonhap News Agency