Police and forensic specialists have examined a commercial building in Daegu after a ceiling collapse injured 38 older people during a sales event. The accident occurred at about 10:16 a.m. on Oct. 10 on the second floor of a four-story building in Gwaneum-dong, Buk District. Sixty-six people evacuated the building after ceiling finishing materials and supporting components fell into the event space.
- Location
- Second floor of a four-story commercial building in Gwaneum-dong, Daegu
- Injuries
- Thirty-eight older people were injured
- Evacuation
- Sixty-six people left the building
The approximately 198-square-meter room was being used by a distributor promoting electric heating pads and kitchen goods to older attendees. Available footage indicates that material on one side of the ceiling fell first, followed by additional sections over roughly 10 seconds. That sequence has become a central focus of the investigation, but authorities have not announced a definitive cause.
Daegu police conducted a joint inspection on Oct. 11 with the National Forensic Service, city officials and other relevant personnel. Investigators examined debris and the remaining ceiling system, including the framework that held the finishing materials in place. They are also reviewing video from the time of the collapse to reconstruct how the failure spread across the room.
Investigators test several possible causes
The investigation will assess whether aging, a structural defect or a problem during installation contributed to the collapse. Police also plan to determine whether building managers, contractors or other responsible parties failed to meet their duties. The evidence supplied so far does not establish which of those possibilities, if any, caused the failure.
The next significant findings are expected from analysis of recovered materials, construction details and the buildingโs maintenance history. Investigators will need to connect physical evidence to the observed sequence before deciding whether anyone should face allegations of professional negligence. Until that work is completed, the confirmed facts remain the initial localized failure, the rapid chain of falling ceiling sections and the resulting injuries and evacuation.