People's stories offer glimpses into desperate moment in flooded tunnel

This still, from a dashcam video belonging to a survivor, was recorded while he was trying to turn his vehicle around in the tunnel in Osong in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, as it filled with water, Saturday. Yonhap

By Kim Se-jeong

As a rescue operation is over at a flooded tunnel that trapped vehicles in Osong in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, stories of the victims and survivors offer glimpses into the last few minutes leading up to the flood that engulfed the tunnel, Saturday.

“I was driving behind the bus in the tunnel,” one survivor told Yonhap News Agency. “Watching how fast the water was approaching, I felt I needed to escape. Luckily, I managed to turn my car around and yelled at other drivers to turn around.”

His escape was captured by his dashcam, which has gone viral online.

The flood took 14 lives.

A 50-year-old man spoke of his nephew who climbed on top of his car in the tunnel together with his brother-in-law. The nephew was found dead while the brother-in-law survived. “My nephew got married only two months ago. He was giving his brother-in-law a ride that morning,” the man said of his nephew.

Another victim was on a bus heading to Osong Station to meet his friend. His friend recalled their last conversation on the phone in an interview with a local newspaper. “I was talking to my friend on the phone and could hear the driver saying 'dear passengers, you need to escape. I will break the window so that you can escape,” he said.

A female victim in her 70s was more concerned about her son while watching the water seeping into the bus. “Mom called me from the bus,” the son was quoted as saying. “She asked me if I was OK and said the bus was filling with water. This was the last communication with her.”

This still, from a dashcam video belonging to a survivor, was recorded as he turned around and faced other vehicles head on as he tried to escape from the tunnel in Osong in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Saturday. Yonhap