Tag: traffic accidents

Condolences to the friends and family of the Soldier killed in this accident:

One American soldier was killed and another injured after their vehicle struck a guardrail on a road in Pyeongtaek early Sunday.

Spc. Dajour Cleveland, 23, was killed in the collision near Osan Air Base, according to an emailed statement from Eighth Army spokesman Lt. Col. Neil Penttila. 

Cleveland was a signal support systems specialist attached to the 94th Military Police Battalion, 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, at Camp Humphreys.

“We are fully cooperating with the Korean National Police to determine the cause of the traffic accident and thank first responders for their efforts at the scene,” the statement said.

The driver, an unidentified American soldier, was being treated for injuries at Camp Humphreys on Monday, a Pyeongtaek Police investigator told Stars and Stripes by phone the same day. South Korean officials customarily speak to media under the condition of anonymity.

The collision occurred on a curved, two-lane road at around 12:50 a.m., the investigator said. The privately owned vehicle is believed by investigators to have collided with the guardrail on the right-side of the road.

The driver “appears to have not been turning well to the direction he wanted to go,” the investigator said. He said an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is terrible:

An Eighth Army soldier who died with his wife and their 16-month-old child in a car crash in South Korea earlier in the week was identified by his command on Wednesday.

Army Spc. Luis Taveras, 27, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., his wife, Lisbeth, 30, and their son, Luis, were killed when their vehicle collided with a tow truck around 11 p.m. Monday near Camp Humphreys.

Taveras was a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairer with the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command. He served four years in the Army and arrived in South Korea in June.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link, but condolences to all SPC Taveras’s friends and family.

This is a creative defense when this sailor probably just dozed off at the wheel after climbing up Mt. Fuji:

A U.S. naval officer, facing 4 ½ years in a Japanese prison, described in court Tuesday how he lost consciousness driving home from Mount Fuji and caused an accident that ultimately claimed the lives of two people.

Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, 33, crashed his car into pedestrians and parked vehicles at a soba restaurant parking lot in Fujinomiya on May 29, according to an indictment. The city is about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, where Alkonis is assigned to the destroyer USS Benfold as a weapons officer.

Alkonis, who is charged with negligent driving resulting in death, said he lost consciousness due to acute mountain sickness, a common set of symptoms that occur with a trip to high altitude.

Killed in the crash was a woman, 85, who died that day, and a man, 54, who died in a hospital on June 11. A second woman, 53, suffered bruises to her knees and elbows.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This was a horrible accident believed to have been caused by icy roads:

At least three people were killed and 43 others injured Monday in two expressway pileups in southwestern South Korea following heavy snow, authorities said.

At least six of the 43 hurt were said to be in critical conditions.

The first accident occurred at 12:23 p.m. when a tank truck carrying nitric acid reportedly ran into a small pile of cars involved in an earlier accident inside a tunnel on a highway connecting Suncheon and Wanju in North Jeolla Province.

About a dozen other vehicles ran into the truck, which had spilled its load and caught fire, according to police and rescue officials.

The third and latest victim was found in a car crushed under the tank truck. Those injured have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There was a horrible accident over the weekend outside of Yongsan Garrison’s Gate 13:

An American family headed to a high school graduation ceremony on Yongsan Garrison was struck by tragedy on Saturday when their car was involved in a fatal collision with a motorcycle.

The crash, which occurred outside Gate 13, killed two people — one American and the South Korean motorcycle driver — and injured another American, garrison spokesman Wes Hayes told Stars and Stripes.

Hayes declined to identify the casualties and said the cause of the crash remained under investigation.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to all the victims of this tragic accident today,” Hayes said.

Many members of the community gathered at a chapel on post after the graduation ceremony to console each other and grieve.

A person at the chapel said the fatality was an American girl who was with her family on the way to watch her brother graduate from Seoul American High School. Her father, a civilian, was reportedly in critical condition.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but hat tip to ROK Head Guitard for leaving the below link that shows the aftermath of this accident:

This next video shows the injured American father asking for help:

Condolences to all the family and friends effected by this tragic accident.

Rescue authorities clean up the scene where a bus collided with a passenger vehicle, killing eight and injuring 11, on a road in Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, on May 1, 2018. (Yonhap)

This would explain why Kim Jong-un made the unusual public appearance of sorrow after the tragic bus accident in North Korea that killed 32 Chinese tourists:

Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong’s only grandson Mao Xinyu was possibly killed in a bus crash in North Korea in April that killed over 30 Chinese, according to a report from French radio.

Xinyu, the son of Mao Zedong’s second son Anqing who died fighting in the Korean War, was possibly one of 32 Chinese tourists who died when a bus fell from a bridge in North Hwanghae Province, Radio France Internationale’s Chinese version reported on April 30, citing a Chinese source.

The report said Xinyu, a Major General in the People’s Liberation Army of China, and most of the other Chinese tourists were the children of Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War.

The accident also killed four North Koreans.

The tourists died reportedly on their way back from a cemetery in Hoechang County in South Pyongan Province that was for Chinese soldiers who died during the Korean War. Mao Zedong’s eldest son Anying was buried there, which leads to the supposition Xinyu could have visited the cemetery to pay tribute to his uncle.

If it is true that Xinyu was among the dead, two direct descendants of Mao Zedong have perished on the Korean Peninsula.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Kim Jong-un is highly concerned about losing Chinese tourists and their money after this horrible bus accident in North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed his “bitter sorrow” after dozens of Chinese tourists were killed when a bus they were travelling in plunged off a bridge.

Thirty-two Chinese tourists and four North Koreans perished in the accident south of Pyongyang Sunday night, Chinese officials and state media said. Two other Chinese nationals were injured.

In a rare admission of negative news from North Korea’s tightly controlled propaganda network, the KCNA news agency on Tuesday said Kim met personally with the Chinese ambassador in Pyongyang and later visited survivors in hospital.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, carried a front-page on Kim’s actions, including pictures of him in a doctor’s white coat, holding the two survivors’ hands as they lay in their hospital beds.  [AFP via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but such a high profile appearance by Kim Jong-un probably means that the North Korean driver was at fault for the accident as well.

Condolences to the friends and family of the USFK soldier killed in a recent traffic accident in South Korea:

A U.S. soldier was killed when a truck slammed into a military ambulance and a car that had pulled over to the side of a highway after an earlier collision south of Seoul, officials said Friday.

The Eighth Army confirmed that a 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade soldier died of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident. The soldier was not further identified pending family notification.

“Medical aid was provided on the scene until the soldier was transported via ambulance to the Good Morning Hospital,” the 8th Army said in a statement. “The incident is under investigation.” (…..)

The deadly chain of events began when a car rear-ended the U.S. military vehicle on an interchange, prompting the soldier to get out to examine the damage. An 8-ton cargo truck then slammed into them, according to the regional fire service.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but imagine what the response would have been if it was a US soldier that killed a Korean civilian in a traffic accident?  The usual suspects would be protesting and demanding apologies from the US President.

I bet the leadership in USFJ when they heard about this accident probably thought to themselves, at least this accident did not happen on Okinawa:

A Yokota civilian was under the influence of alcohol before the car he was driving crashed into another vehicle, injuring its occupant, Japanese officials said Monday.

A man in his 20s was taken to the hospital after the accident, which happened around 6 p.m. on May 7, a North Kanto Defense Bureau spokesman said. The man sustained minor injuries to his neck, he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.