projects frequently went to companies that promised the fastest construction, incentivizing cheap and rushed construction at the expense of safety. Dong Ah Construction's bid for the Seongsu Bridge's construction contract was half the price of its expected cost at the time. The rushed construction of the bridge was attributed as a negative consequence of South Korea's "ppalli ppalli" () culture. Collapse On October 20, 1994, at 9:30 p.m. KST the evening before the collapse, workers for the Seoul Metropolitan Government laid a small steel plate onto a seam on the bridge, away from the site of the eventual collapse, to cover up a large gap that had formed at the joint. Repairs for the bridge had been scheduled for that day, but were postponed due to bad weather. On Friday, October 21, at 6:00 a.m., drivers filed a report after seeing cracks in the bridge, but the city government dismissed the reports, saying that the crack had been repaired through the installation of the steel plate. At 7:38 a.m., at the beginning of the morning rush hour, a span on the north side of the Seongsu Bridge suddenly gave way into the Han River below. Survivors of the collapse compared the sound of the bridge collapse to thunder. Traffic was flowing at a speed of and a total of 6 vehicles were involved in the incident, including a police van and a commuter bus carrying thirty-one occupants. Heavy rain the night before the collapse is said to have reduced the number of vehicles on the road at the time. The collapse sent two cars and the police van down with the bridge, while an additional two cars fell into the river. The police van carried 11 police and auxiliary police officers, that were selected as model officers for () celebrations that day. The Number 16 bus operated by the () was traveling North from Seoul Grand Park to Beon-dong and had nearly crossed the span when the bridge collapsed. The collapse would cause the rear of the bus to tilt over backwards before plummeting onto its roof and crumpling to half its size. Victims Thirty-two people were killed in the disaster including twenty-nine victims on the Number 16 bus, which held thirty-one people when it fell. Among the dead were the bus driver and 9 students from () and () in Gangnam. Two of the victims on the bus survived