 On July 25 , as North Korean forces seized the town of Yongdong , 7 miles ( 11 km ) west of No Gun Ri , U.S. troops were evacuating nearby villages , including hundreds of residents of Chu Gok Ri and Im Ke Ri . These villagers were joined by others as they walked down the main road south , and the estimated 600 refugees spent the night by a riverbank near Ha Ga Ri village , 3 @.@ 5 miles ( 5 @.@ 5 km ) west of No Gun Ri . Seven refugees were killed by U.S. soldiers when they strayed from the group during the night . In the morning of July 26 , the villagers found that the escorting soldiers had left . They continued down the road , were stopped by American troops at a roadblock near No Gun Ri , and were ordered onto the parallel railroad tracks , where U.S. soldiers searched them and their belongings , confiscating knives and other items . The refugees were resting , spread out along the railroad embankment around midday , when military aircraft strafed and bombed them . Recalling the air strike , Yang Hae @-@ chan , a 10 @-@ year @-@ old boy in 1950 , said that the attacking planes returned repeatedly , and " chaos broke out among the refugees . We ran around wildly trying to get away . " He and another survivor said that soldiers reappeared and began shooting the wounded on the tracks . Survivors first sought shelter in a small culvert beneath the tracks , but soldiers and U.S. ground fire drove them from there into a double tunnel beneath a concrete railroad bridge . Inside the bridge underpasses ( each 80 feet long , 22 feet wide and 40 feet high ) , they came under heavy machine gun and rifle fire from 7th Cavalry troops from both sides of the bridge . " Children were screaming in fear and adults were praying for their lives , and the whole time they never stopped shooting , " said survivor Park Sun @-@ yong , whose 4 @-@ year @-@ old son and 2 @-@ year @-@ old daughter were killed , while she was badly wounded . 
