A tragic construction accident in downtown Seoul on Tuesday has left three people dead and three more hospitalized with injuries after a section of a decades-old overpass mid-demolition gave way unexpectedly, South Korean fire authorities confirmed. According to Lee Jong-woon, a representative from Seoul’s Seodaemun District Fire Station, the incident unfolded after on-site crews first paused demolition work when they spotted unusual sinking in a portion of the structure amid ongoing concrete slab cutting operations. Crews had moved to conduct a routine safety check following this discovery when the collapse occurred, leaving victims trapped under falling concrete and steel debris. All fatalities were caused by blunt trauma from falling wreckage after the bridge deck section fractured and collapsed, fire officials added. In the wake of the incident, law enforcement and emergency response teams quickly cordoned off the entire area surrounding the collapse site, where mangled steel girders and broken concrete chunks now dangle dangerously from the remaining overpass structure. A portion of falling debris also landed on an adjacent railway corridor serving major routes into Seoul, prompting state-owned Korea Railroad Corp. to immediately suspend a portion of incoming and outgoing services bound for Seoul Station, disrupting commuter and long-distance travel across the region. First constructed in 1966, the aging infrastructure project had been marked for demolition for years due to longstanding public safety concerns. Demolition work on the overpass first launched in August of the previous year, and crews had been working methodically to take down the structure incrementally before Tuesday’s deadly incident. Emergency teams have not yet released further details on the identities of the victims or the exact timeline of resumed work at the site, as investigations into the cause of the collapse are still in their early stages.