[Editor's Pick] Tragic Death: Man Crushed by Forklift While Picking Up Corn Despite Leg Cast

A forklift lies overturned on a ramp in a supermarket basement parking lot.

The parking lot barrier is broken, and corn is scattered across the ground.

The victim, identified as Kim Young-kyun, had stepped off the forklift to collect corn that had fallen to the ground. He was crushed to death while attempting to stop the moving vehicle.

It is presumed that the accident occurred when the forklift, which had been parked on the ramp, began to roll backward.

On the day of the accident, the forklift was being transported through the basement parking lot due to a malfunction in the freight elevator. At the time, Kim was wearing a cast on one of his feet, making it difficult for him to operate the forklift properly.

[Supermarket Official: There were people guiding it from the front and back. Since the freight elevator was broken, it seems the work was carried out voluntarily, and we try to stick to certified operators within our regulations...]

His wife, who is eight and a half months pregnant and due in two weeks, lost her husband overnight.

She tearfully shared that Kim, a non-regular worker, had been working even on weekends in hopes of being converted to a permanent contract position this coming August.

[Wife of the late Kim Young-kyun: Even when he was with me, he was constantly in contact with the company and going in for work on his days off. He was a man who worked so hard.]

The forklift Kim was operating was under 3 tons, which requires mandatory safety training for operation.

However, the bereaved family claims that Kim had been performing forklift duties since he first joined the company, despite never having received the required training.

[Bereaved Family: It is irresponsible to have an unqualified person perform that job when there were structural conditions in place that made an accident inevitable at any time.]

The police and the Gwangju Regional Employment and Labor Office are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the forklift operation, the work order process, and whether safety regulations were followed.

(Video coverage: Yoon In-soo, JIBS | Written by: Yoon Sung-sik | Footage courtesy of: Jeju Fire Safety Headquarters | Produced by: SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.