Tunnel Dangers

[Anchor Lead]

The number of traffic accidents taking place inside a tunnel has been on the rise recently, often with tragic results. What makes tunnel accidents especially dangerous is the fact that it’s difficult for first responders to get to the scene in a timely way.

[Pkg]

Vehicles running in a tunnel turn on their emergency lights and reduce their speed. But a truck loaded with paint thinner fails to reduce its speed on time and ends up flipping and exploding. The flames spread all the way to the car ahead of it. The number of traffic accidents in tunnels has been on the rise every year. When an accident happens in a tunnel, it is crucial for emergency vehicles to arrive as soon as possible. Cars are engulfed in flames in two different tunnels. Other cars continue to pass by on nearby lanes. The emergency vehicles arrive after 12 and 10 minutes, respectively. The critical time for rescuing lives and extinguishing flames early on is usually seven minutes. But only nine percent, or 94 tunnels in the nation, can be reached by emergency vehicles within the critical time.

[Soundbite] (National Fire Agency Official (Voice modified)) : "Tunnels are located farther away. This outcome is based on the distance."

The Korea Expressway Corporation has found that it takes 13 minutes on average for emergency vehicles to reach some one thousand tunnels on expressways nationwide. The arrival time was calculated
virtually by a portal site. In real-life situations, it can take even longer.

[Soundbite] Rep. Bak Maeng-woo(Nat’l Assembly Land Infrastructure & Transport Committee) : "The Korea Expressway Corporation must improve the facilities on a regular basis so that rescue workers can arrive within the critical time, and conduct measurements regularly to enhance the accuracy of rescue workers' arrival time."

Over the past five years, 62 people have died and more than 400 sustained injuries in traffic accidents that occurred in tunnels.