June 29, 1995
Sampoong department store
A Seoul shopping centre at six in the evening, twenty seconds
3,611
held · 61 days
502
died
0
named here
The building had been altered twice - a fifth floor added, support columns cut to fit an escalator, and the air conditioning units dragged across the roof rather than lifted, cracking the slab.
On the morning of the twenty-ninth the cracks in the fifth floor were wide enough to see through. The management met, decided not to close, and evacuated themselves. The public address system was not used.
At two minutes past six the roof gave way and the building came down in twenty seconds, all five floors into the basement. Five hundred and two were killed and nine hundred and thirty-seven hurt.
Three people were pulled out alive after eleven, thirteen and seventeen days.