A chain-reaction crash involving 13 vehicles on an expressway in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, killed two people and injured four early Monday morning. The accident began when a 26-ton tank truck rear-ended a cargo truck, leading to fires and an oil spill. About 20 bus passengers escaped injury.
The accident occurred at 3:12 a.m. on November 17, 2025, on a bridge near the Shinnyeong interchange on the Sangju-Yeongcheon expressway in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. According to police, it started when a 26-ton tank truck carrying 24,000 liters of bunker C oil rear-ended a 25-ton cargo truck. A 14-ton truck then hit the tank truck, triggering a chain reaction involving seven other vehicles, including passenger cars and a bus.
H beams from one truck fell onto the opposite lane, causing further collisions as a passenger car, another tank truck, and a 13-ton cargo truck swerved to avoid them. Two passenger car drivers and one truck driver were killed, with four others injured. Approximately 20 passengers on the bus were unharmed.
Fires broke out in three vehicles—a tank truck, a 14-ton cargo truck, and a 2.5-ton cargo truck—but were fully extinguished after two hours and 30 minutes. Oil from one of the tank trucks spilled into nearby rice paddies and waterways, raising environmental concerns. Located about 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, police are investigating the cause of the incident.