Worker Rescued from Collapsed Subway Construction Site in South Korea

Rescue officials conduct search operations for the second day, for a missing person in a subway construction site collapse in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, South Korea, 12 April 2025. (EPA/Yonhap)
Rescue officials conduct search operations for the second day, for a missing person in a subway construction site collapse in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, South Korea, 12 April 2025. (EPA/Yonhap)
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Worker Rescued from Collapsed Subway Construction Site in South Korea

Rescue officials conduct search operations for the second day, for a missing person in a subway construction site collapse in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, South Korea, 12 April 2025. (EPA/Yonhap)
Rescue officials conduct search operations for the second day, for a missing person in a subway construction site collapse in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, South Korea, 12 April 2025. (EPA/Yonhap)

South Korean rescue workers on Saturday pulled a man from a collapsed subway construction site near the capital of Seoul and continued searching for another believed to be trapped inside.

Im Gwang-sik, an official with Gwangmyeong city’s fire department, said the survivor was trapped about 30 meters (98 feet) underground in the rubble for approximately 13 hours, and was conscious when found and taken to a nearby hospital.

Gwangmyeong city authorities had earlier withdrawn workers from the construction site and halted traffic in the area after receiving reports that a ventilation shaft was at risk of collapsing.

Authorities were deploying dozens of rescue workers and vehicles and three cranes to search for the other worker who remains unaccounted for.



Remains of 5,000-year-old Noblewoman Found in Peru Dig

An ancient artifact found in a recently discovered burial site at the Aspero archaeological complex, belonging to the Caral civilization, during a press presentation at the Ministry of Culture in Lima on April 24, 2025. ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP
An ancient artifact found in a recently discovered burial site at the Aspero archaeological complex, belonging to the Caral civilization, during a press presentation at the Ministry of Culture in Lima on April 24, 2025. ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP
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Remains of 5,000-year-old Noblewoman Found in Peru Dig

An ancient artifact found in a recently discovered burial site at the Aspero archaeological complex, belonging to the Caral civilization, during a press presentation at the Ministry of Culture in Lima on April 24, 2025. ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP
An ancient artifact found in a recently discovered burial site at the Aspero archaeological complex, belonging to the Caral civilization, during a press presentation at the Ministry of Culture in Lima on April 24, 2025. ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP

Archaeologists in Peru said Thursday they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas.

"What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman," archaeologist David Palomino told AFP.

The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for over 30 years until becoming an archaeological site in the 1990s.

Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000 years BC, contained skin, part of the nails and hair and was wrapped in a shroud made of several layers of fabric and a mantle of macaw feathers.

Macaws are colorful birds that belong to the parrot family.

The woman's funerary trousseau, which was presented to reporters at the culture ministry, included a toucan's beak, a stone bowl and a straw basket.

Preliminary analyses indicate that the remains found in December belong to a woman between 20 and 35 years old who was 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall, and wearing a headdress that represented her elevated social status.

Palomino told reporters the find showed that while "it was generally thought that rulers were men, or that they had more prominent roles in society" women had "played a very important role in the Caral civilization."

Caral society developed between 3000 and 1800 BC, around the same time as other great cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.

The city is situated in the fertile Supe valley, around 180 kilometers (113 miles) north of Lima and 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Pacific Ocean.

It was declared a UN World Heritage Site in 2009.