Passengers aboard a train on Subway Line No. 8 in Seoul on Tuesday had a hair-raising ride, with a malfunctioning door wide open for six stops. There were no casualties.
According to Seoul Metro, the train left Bokjeong Station in Songpa district at around 1:15 p.m. The fourth door of the first car was not shut due to a substance that had blocked it from closing.
Bokjeong Station (Yonhap)
The train reached its final stop, Moran Station, with the door still open.
Seoul Metro says a maintenance staff member had boarded the train at Bokjeong Station and that the train operated normally as the incident had been under control. The maintenance staff member had attempted to fix the problem as the train was moving, but could not set it right before the train reached its final destination.
However, the metro operation manual says that in the case of a glitch in a train, all passengers should be let out and the train withdrawn to its base.
No announcement was made to alert passengers of the situation.
A Seoul Metro representative reportedly apologized for the deviation from the operation manual.
(kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)
