Two middle school girls fall into creek; one dead as family suspects construction dug 'death trap'

Two middle school girls fell into Haemicheon creek in Seosan, leaving one dead and the other in critical condition. The incident has stirred controversy over what caused the accident, as the creek was known as a shallow spot popular with students — yet the water in one section reportedly reached about 2 meters deep.

The accident occurred at around 5:16 p.m. June 19 in the Eumnae-ri area of Haemi-myeon, Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, when two first-year middle school girls fell into the creek. A citizen called emergency services reporting that students were sinking in Haemicheon, and firefighters arrived within four minutes, pulling out the two girls — identified as A, 13, and B, 13 — both in cardiac arrest.

Rescuers performed CPR on the spot and rushed both girls to hospital, but A did not survive. B regained consciousness but remained in critical condition, with water in her lungs and other organs, authorities said.

The two students had been walking home from school when they waded into the creek as they often did, lifting their skirts as usual. They stepped in expecting the familiar knee-deep shallows, but the creek bed suddenly dropped away beneath them in one section, causing them to lose their footing and be swept under.

Police measurements at the scene found the deepest pool reached 1.97 meters — well above the height of an adult man. A Haemi-myeon resident said the stretch of creek where the accident happened had never been deep before. "I simply cannot understand why this happened all of a sudden," the resident said. "Could someone have artificially dug it out, creating a death trap?"

The victim's family has raised allegations that Seosan city may have recklessly excavated the creek bed during recent flood-damage restoration work. The father of the girl who died said the bottom had been cut at a right angle rather than sloping gradually. "It is clear evidence that heavy machinery came in and scraped away the sediment," he said. He also argued that even after the previously shallow Haemicheon was dug to a depth of 2 meters as a result of the construction, no warning or caution signs were posted, allowing the accident to happen.

Seosan city and the construction contractor both denied responsibility. A city official said the central section of the creek where the accident occurred had not been within the original scope of the construction work. A contractor representative said the company had only carried out stone-retaining wall work after filling in soil as required by the specified guidelines, and had never excavated the creek bed.

Police plan to investigate whether the local government failed in its oversight duties and whether the contractor violated safety management regulations.