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The chief of the Heungdeok Police Station gives a briefing on the deadly underpass flooding in Osong, July 15. (Yonhap) |
Prosecutors raided five regional police and government offices Monday as part of an investigation into what went wrong in the response to a deadly underpass flooding in the central city of Cheongju.
The Cheongju District Prosecutors Office sent investigators to the provincial police agency, the fire service headquarters and the regional government of North Chungcheong Province, as well as the city government of Cheongju and a state city construction agency, to seize evidence.
A district police station in the region was also searched by the police in connection with the case.
An underground roadway in Osong in western Cheongju, located 112 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was flooded amid heavy rains in mid-July when a nearby river overflowed after an embankment was brought down by rising water levels. The flooding left 14 people killed and 10 others injured.
Police authorities in the region are accused of failing to promptly respond to emergency calls urging traffic restrictions around the underpass ahead of the accident. They also allegedly attempted to cover up the alleged negligence by submitting falsified reports during a government inspection into the case.
Last week, the Office for Government Policy Coordination in charge of the inspection referred six police officers to the prosecution for investigation, accusing them of mishandling the deadly underpass flooding.
The regional government offices and the fire agency are accused of sitting on reports filed before the accident to alert authorities to risky situations involving the underpass. (Yonhap)
