the fall, but died waiting for first responders. The victims were treated at 6 hospitals, including the (). Four of the dead were enshrined at Gangnam City Hospital (), three at Gangdong Catholic Hospital (), five at Bangjigeo Hospital (), five at Halla Hospital (), two at (), two at Soonchunhyang Hospital (), two at the (), one at Dong-Ah Hospital (), three at Yongsan Company Hospital (), one at (), one at (), one at (), and one at the People's Hospital (). Initial reports incorrectly reported over 40 deaths after police either mistakenly combined the list of the dead and the injured or doubled the number of deaths. Rescue The 11 police and auxiliary officers in the police van that fell with the bridge became the first to respond to the disaster. The officers quickly undressed and used their clothes to tie a rope and warm other victims of the disaster, saving a total of 10 drowning people. First responders arrived more than 20 minutes after the collapse and rescue operations began at 8:10 a.m. KST. The late response of the first responders drew public ire and was the result of call center employees believing the calls were prank calls. The 11 officers would be handed over to rescuers and taken to the hospital. In response to the collapse, a total of 1,500 people were mobilized from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the Korean Armed Forces, and the Seoul Metropolitan Fire Service. The rescue team included 150 underwater exploration special forces from the fire service. Rescue efforts were hampered by rain, tides, and heavy traffic. Investigation Officials initially stated that they believed the collapse occurred as a result of long-term excessive load on the bridge, culminating in the fracture of a rusted connection hinge. Overloaded vehicles carrying loads greater than their maximum capacity were regularly passing through the bridge. This led to a crackdown on overloaded vehicles over the Hangang Bridge out of fear of a similar collapse. The evening of the collapse, the Seoul Metropolitan Government sent 10 bridge engineers to the site to investigate the collapse. Investigations by the Korean Broadcasting System the next day found that the Seongsu Bridge, along with the Dongho Bridge and the Hangang Bridge suffered from rushed construction, noting that severely rusted steel on the bridges had been painted over, bolts were missing from the bridges, and segments of the bridges