Elevated Part of Highway Being Built in South Korea Collapses, 4 Workers Dead

Rescuers work at the construction site of a bridge on the Seoul-Sejong expressway, after it collapsed earlier in the day in Anseong, South Korea, 25 February 2025. EPA/HONG GI-WON/YONHAP
Rescuers work at the construction site of a bridge on the Seoul-Sejong expressway, after it collapsed earlier in the day in Anseong, South Korea, 25 February 2025. EPA/HONG GI-WON/YONHAP
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Elevated Part of Highway Being Built in South Korea Collapses, 4 Workers Dead

Rescuers work at the construction site of a bridge on the Seoul-Sejong expressway, after it collapsed earlier in the day in Anseong, South Korea, 25 February 2025. EPA/HONG GI-WON/YONHAP
Rescuers work at the construction site of a bridge on the Seoul-Sejong expressway, after it collapsed earlier in the day in Anseong, South Korea, 25 February 2025. EPA/HONG GI-WON/YONHAP

Elevated parts of a highway under construction collapsed south of the Korean capital on Tuesday, killing at least four workers and injuring six others, officials said.
Ten people were working on the site in the city of Cheonan, about 90 kilometers from Seoul. They fell when it collapsed and were trapped in the rubble, the National Fire Agency said.

Ko Kyung-man, an Anseong fire official, said that four people had died, including two Chinese nationals, and six were injured, including five who were in a critical condition. The five also included one Chinese citizen.
"They were working to install a deck on the bridge," Ko told a televised briefing. "All of the 10 were up on the deck ... and fell from both sides when it collapsed."
The cause of the collapse wasn’t immediately known.

Broadcaster YTN aired dramatic footage showing a deck of a towering bridge collapsing at the site.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok urged authorities to mobilize all available personnel and equipment to salvage the workers.

The Transport Ministry said it has dispatched a team of officials to the scene.

Data released in March by South Korea's labor ministry showed that 598 industrial workers died in 2023, with the construction sector accounting for nearly half, or 303, though the total death toll was down from 644 in 2022.



Greece Blocks Asylum Claims for Migrants on Crete after Surge in Arrivals

Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
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Greece Blocks Asylum Claims for Migrants on Crete after Surge in Arrivals

Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS
Migrants get off a bus at the port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 08 July 2025. EPA/NIKOS CHALKIADAKIS

Greece's government said Wednesday it is temporarily suspending asylum applications for migrants arriving on the island of Crete, following a spike in arrivals from Libya.

More than 2,000 migrants have landed on the island since the weekend, according to coast guard figures, bringing the total number of arrivals this year to over 10,000.

Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the government also planned to build a detention site on Crete for migrants and was seeking direct collaboration between the Libya and Greek coast guards to turn back boats leaving the North African country.

“This emergency situation clearly demands emergency measures,” Mitsotakis told parliament Wednesday. “The Greek government has decided to inform the European Commission that ... it will suspend the processing of asylum applications — for an initial period of three months — for those arriving by sea from North Africa.”

According to The Associated Press, the suspension will apply only to migrants reaching Crete by sea. Migrants entering illegally will be detained, Mitsotakis said. “The Greek government is sending a firm message: the route to Greece is closing, and that message is directed at all human traffickers,” he said.

Overnight, a fishing trawler carrying 520 migrants from Libya was intercepted south of Crete. A bulk carrier that took all of the migrants onboard was rerouted to the port of Lavrio, near Athens, so that the migrants could be detained on a mainland facility, authorities said.