The Sampoong Department Store collapse in Seoul, South Korea, in 1995 remains one of the deadliest peacetime structural disasters in modern history. The five-story building, originally designed as an office complex, was illegally modified into a department store with additional floors added to increase commercial space. Structural columns were weakened to make room for escalators, and heavy air-conditioning units were placed on the roof despite engineers warning that the building was not designed to carry such weight. Cracks began appearing in the structure shortly before the disaster, yet management ignored the warning signs. When the building finally gave way on June 29, 1995, it collapsed in seconds, killing over 500 people and injuring nearly 1,000 more.
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