This is the moment a 75-year-old drives into a crowd at a temple said to house a fragment of Buddha’s skull and kills a woman after reportedly mixing up the accelerator and the brake.
Dashcam footage from the car shows worshippers panic as they realise the car is about to hit them at Tongdosa Temple, near the city of Yangsan in South Korea’s South Gyeongsang Province, where they had gathered to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
People were standing by the side of the road when the SsangYong Chairman car, driven by a 75-year-old man identified by cops only by his surname of Kim, veered off the main road and into the group.
A woman in her 40s, whose name has not been released, was killed in the accident. Another 12 people were taken to hospital. Eight of them were said to be seriously hurt while the other four suffered minor injuries.
Police have not yet confirmed the cause of the accident but said there was a significant possibility the elderly driver had accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of his brake.
However, officers also said they could not rule out a vehicle fault. Their investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.
Tongdosa is one of the ‘Three Jewels Temples’, the three principal Buddhist temples in South Korea.
It is famous as, unusually, there are no statues of the Buddha outside the temple because it reputedly houses several relics of the Buddha himself.
The relics, which include a robe, a begging bowl and a fragment from the Buddha’s skull, are preserved in pagodas at the temple.
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Story By: Simon Glover, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig,  Agency: Asia Wire Report
