Nine People Killed In Seoul After Driver Ploughs Car Into Pedestrian Crowd

Tragedy has struck South Korea again. Nine individuals have lost their lives, and four others have sustained injuries after a car struck a crowd of pedestrians in downtown Seoul.

A 68-year-old man was operating the vehicle that collided with pedestrians waiting at a traffic light. Yonhap News Agency reported that the driver, whose identity has not been disclosed, has been apprehended and is being investigated for involuntary manslaughter.

According to police reports, the incident occurred around 9:27 PM local time near Seoul City Hall, a bustling metropolitan area.

Of the nine victims, six died at the scene, while three others, who were transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest, were later pronounced dead. Photos from the crash site show a severely damaged black sedan being towed away, with the guardrails along the road flattened.

Seoul police noted that the car was moving in the wrong direction and had already collided with two other vehicles before hitting the pedestrians. Preliminary investigations suggest that unintended acceleration was the cause, and initial tests indicated that the driver was neither intoxicated nor under the influence of alcohol.

This tragedy follows another recent calamity in South Korea, where 23 people died in a fire at a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong city, about 90 minutes southwest of Seoul, just a week prior.