One railway worker was killed and another injured after being struck by a cargo train in Uiwang, just southwest of Seoul, officials said Sunday.

The accident occurred at 8:20 p.m. Saturday at Obong Station in Uiwang, killing the 33-year-old employee of Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL), the operator of railway services, they said. Another KORAIL worker was treated at the scene for symptoms such as hyperventilation.

The workers were trying to connect and separate cargo trains at the time, they said.

Police and KORAIL said they have launched an investigation into the accident.

The ministry of labor, meanwhile, said it has launched a separate investigation into KORAIL for violation of the workplace safety law that took effect in January.

Under the new law, business owners or CEOs of companies with 50 or more employees are subject to at least one year in prison or up to 1 billion won ($710,000) in fines in the event of deadly on-duty disasters caused by lax workplace safety measures.

A total of four KORAIL workers were killed this year in four different accidents across the country. (Yonhap)