Yahoo – AFP,
Park Chan-Kyong, 18 Oct 2014
 |
Policemen
stand guard near a broken ventilation grate after concert goers fell
through it
into an underground parking area in Seongnam on October 17, 2014
(AFP
Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
|
A South
Korean official handling safety measures at a concert where 16 people died
apparently committed suicide hours after the tragedy which happened when a
ventilation grate collapsed, authorities said Saturday.
The death
of the 37-year-old local government official, surnamed Oh, was announced as
South Korean police launched an investigation into Friday's incident at an
outdoor pop concert in the city of Seongnam.
 |
South
Korean National Forensic Service
members check a broken ventilation grate
after
concert goers fell through it into an
underground parking area in Seongnam on
October 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-
Je)
|
The victims
were standing on a ventilation grating to get a better view when the structure
collapsed under their weight, sending them plunging 18.7 metres (62 feet) down
into an underground parking area.
Amateur
video footage obtained by the YTN news channel showed shocked spectators
surrounding the collapsed grate as the popular all-girl K-pop band 4Minute,
apparently oblivious to the accident, continued performing on stage.
The
incident comes as South Korea is still grappling with the aftermath of the
Sewol ferry disaster in April that left more than 300 dead, most of them high
school students.
Disaster
relief spokesman Kim Nam-Jun told journalists Saturday that Oh, who worked with
a group sponsoring the concert, jumped off a building near where the tragedy
took place.
He was
found dead early Saturday a few hours after he was interrogated by police over
the disaster, YTN TV said.
Kim also
said authorities had inspected the site Saturday.
"A
joint team of police and national forensic experts scoured the site this
morning and closely inspected gratings and related structures," he said.
 |
South
Korean National Forensic Service
members check a broken ventilation grate
after
concert goers fell through it into an
underground parking area in Seongnam
on
October 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/
Jung Yeon-Je)
|
"If it
turns out that safety regulations were ignored, we would bring criminal charges
against them," a police official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
No
security
Witnesses
told media there were no security guards or safety fences to prevent
overflowing spectators climbing onto the grate after some 400 prepared chairs
were fully occupied well before the concert kicked off.
More than
700 people were believed to be attending the outdoor concert.
"Many
people on the vent gratings were chanting and dancing to the music. I was
worried about their safety but there were no security guards around," a
45-year-old man who runs a restaurant near the site was quoted as saying by
Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
"The
show host repeatedly told the spectators to come off the grate but no one paid
heed to the warning," another witness told the paper.
"(Immediately
after the accident), screams for help were all drowned out by the din from the
concert", Lee Sang-Hoon, a witness, told Dong-A Ilbo daily.
 |
Policemen
stand guard near a broken
ventilation grate after concert goers fell
through it
into an underground parking
area in Seongnam on October 17,
2014 (AFP
Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
|
"Basic
safety precautions were all brushed aside. The organisers of the show should
have at least set up temporary safety fences or deployed security guards
there," he told AFP.
"These
kind of safety hazards are latent in many places all over this country.
"Over
the past decades, economic expansion always took precedence over safety
concerns, resulting in the lack of safety conciousness among Koreans."
The Sewol
ferry disaster prompted government promises of a national review of safety
standards, as it became clear that poor regulatory oversight was a major
contributor to the scale of the tragedy.
In
February, the roof caved in on a student-packed auditorium near the southern
city of Gyeongju, killing 10 people and injuring more than 100. An
investigation uncovered evidence of structural flaws and lax management
controls.
The last
major accident at a music concert was in 2005 when 11 people were crushed to
death and nearly 80 injured in a stampede as thousands tried to enter the
stadium venue in the southeastern city of Sangju.
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