Two Accidents in a Month, 21 Casualties ... 8 Hadong Rail Bike Operator, County Officials Referred to Prosecutors

The Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Police Agency's Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit referred six people associated with the operator, including its CEO, two Hadong County officials, and the operating company's corporate entity to prosecutors without detention in connection with an accident involving the Hadong Rail Bike in Bukcheon-myeon, Hadong County.

According to the provincial police agency on the 14th, they are suspected of neglecting their safety management duties during two rail-bike collision accidents on May 2 and 17, causing injuries to 20 passengers and the death of one person.

Hadong Rail Bike in Gyeongsangnam-do. [Photo provided by Hadong County]

The investigation found that the operator's CEO, identified as A, its head of operations, B, and its safety team leader, C, neglected their overall management duties during the first accident. They failed to properly maintain the scenic train and provide safety training, and did not prepare the standard safety operation guidelines required under the Tourism Promotion Act.

The train driver, D, the train safety attendant, E, and the railroad crossing safety attendant, F, are suspected of failing to maintain a safe distance, neglecting their duty to watch ahead, and failing to report the rail-bike congestion.

Investigators also found that A, B, and C continued operating under the existing system without determining the cause of the first accident or preparing measures to prevent a recurrence. They also continued using a towing vehicle that had not been authorized under the Tourism Promotion Act.

The investigation found that the towing vehicle was an Actyon Sports pickup truck whose wheels alone had been modified to fit the tracks.

D is also suspected of setting the train in motion without properly explaining the location of the brakes or how to operate them to the accident victims.

After the first accident, county officials G and H did not make efforts to determine its cause or implement improvements. Instead, they decided to resume train operations in time for the scheduled festival opening and did so recklessly, relying solely on another company's perfunctory inspection results, investigators found.

On May 2, eight Hadong Rail Bikes and a scenic train used for sightseeing collided in a chain reaction, injuring 17 people.

Then, on May 17, a four-person rail bike carrying passengers collided with a rail-bike towing vehicle ahead of it on the southbound track from Yangbo Station in Hadong to Bukcheon Station.

Four people aboard the rail bike were injured and taken to a nearby hospital by emergency services. One of them, a woman in her 70s, died the following day.

A police official said, "We will respond strictly, under a zero-tolerance principle, to safety accidents at theme park facilities that threaten public safety."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.