Five Men Swept away by the Waves at the 임진river.

Last September 6, five men and two boys camped at the river, 임진강(Imgin river). When they slept in the tent, the river suddenly rose up and then they were swept away by the waves except for two people. Many people feel sorry for their misfortune when they heard the story of the accident.

Kim(36) camped at the 임진river with a party of six. They tented at the riverside and slept. Among these people, two people are elementary school students who are sons of two men.

In the dawn, Kim awoke because of the sound of flowing water, close at hand. And when he looked at the outside, he could hardly believe his eyes.

They were already isolated because the water rose up to the tent. Kim woke up his friends in a hurry and gave notice to the rescue party, 119. The river was rising gradually while they waited for the rescue party. They were so seized with fear that they decided to swim across the river to live.

Gangil Su(40), one of the people, put his son on a icebox and swam across the river about 30m while pushing the icebox. When he nearly arrived the riverside, however, his strength weakened.

He pushed his son out of the river with the utmost effort, and then he swept away by swift currents. The boy cried out to his father but he disappeared in the river.

Among these people, only two people could live.

This disaster reveals an error of the Korea Water Resources Development Corporation. A problem arose from North Korea. In the dawn, North Korea disembogued the 황강dam’s water into the river of South Korea without permission. Several hours later, the river became of a high water level. When this accident happened, alarm for escaping didn’t work because employees ignored the message about the warning. Alarm system used to malfunction, so they thought that the message is not important. According to the police, if the alarm had worked properly, victims might have had enough time for escaping from the river. So the police consider some employees, who work at the Korea Water Resources Development Corporation, as a critical cause of this disaster and they are preparing to request arrest warrants for them who ignored the working rules.

Actually, there were other people near the riverside. But they were rescued by the relief squad fortunately. The government is considering the possibility that North Korea applies the inundation tactics. But it said "We can't conclude the purpose of North Korea yet."

I’m very angry because we can prevent this disaster if we were more cautious. We always used to regret that we don’t give more attention and prepare the proper equipment after the accident happened. From now on, We have to never make the same mistake.

In September 13, the families of victims had a joint funeral ceremony at the hospital. Many celebrities visited there to console the families. I want to give them words of comfort sincerely.

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