Cracks in the Wall Were Covered Up, Mall Collapsed—Management Bosses Fled Instead

The collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in South Korea remains one of the deadliest building disasters triggered by human negligence. The country’s largest mall crumbled on 29 June 1995 after management ignored large cracks that had been visible for months. As a result, more than 1,500 people were buried under the rubble, 502 died, and six others were never found. According to a report by The Guardian, Sampoong’s management had known the building was in a dangerous condition since April 1995. Long cracks were visible on the roof and walls of the fifth floor, but instead of halting operations for a thorough inspection, management merely relocated shops from that floor to lower levels. Activity on the other four floors continued as normal. The situation worsened on 29 June 1995 when the cracks widened and spread to the fourth floor. Management again chose to keep the mall operational. The fourth floor was closed and the air conditioning system was switched off, but the shopping centre remained open because the owners did not want to lose revenue from the high volume of transactions that day. Ironically, after learning the building’s condition was increasingly critical, several senior management figures chose to leave the premises. Meanwhile, thousands of employees were still required to work, serving shoppers who were completely unaware of the extent of the structural damage. They only felt the temperature inside the mall growing hotter as the air conditioning was turned off. At around 5.50 p.m. local time, loud cracking sounds began to emanate from within the building. Panic erupted as visitors ran for the exits and alarms were sounded. However, there was very little time to escape. Survivor Park Seung-hyun recounted, ‘From across the store, there was a sound like a subway train entering a station, and when we heard that sound, people started running around. Suddenly a piece of concrete fell on my head and I passed out.’ Just seven minutes after the first cracking sounds were heard, the Sampoong building collapsed in about 20 seconds. Rescue teams managed to evacuate 937 injured victims. A total of 502 people were declared dead, while six others were never found. Investigations later revealed that the root of the problem dated back to the construction phase in 1987. The land used was a former rubbish dump, which was deemed insufficiently stable to support a large-scale shopping centre. The original contractor had warned of the risk and proposed building apartment blocks with a stronger concrete structure instead. However, the owner, Lee Joon, rejected the proposal and insisted on constructing the mall. When the contractor refused to follow a design considered unsafe, Lee Joon fired them and appointed another contractor willing to comply with his wishes. The investigation concluded that the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store was the result of a combination of construction planning failures and management negligence that ignored safety warnings in order to preserve profits. The court subsequently sentenced Lee Joon to 10 years in prison, while his son, Lee Han-sang, received a seven-year sentence for their roles in one of South Korea’s deadliest building disasters.