Seoul, Nov 19 : Two more people have died from their injuries after a truck crashed into a traditional market in South Korea's Bucheon last week, the local police said Wednesday.

A 20-something man and an 80-plus woman died Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, raising the death toll from the accident to four, according to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police.

Both had been visitors to Jeil Market in the city some 20 kilometers southwest of Seoul when the 1-ton pickup plowed through its narrow passage Thursday morning, killing two women in their 60s and 70s, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Another 17 people were injured, but none are in life threatening condition.

Police said they plan to transfer the 67-year-old driver to the prosecution this week on charges of causing death under the special law on handling traffic accidents.

The driver was found to have moved the truck in reverse before sprinting 132 meters down the passage, crashing into people and stores.

Footage from a pedal dashcam showed he had stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake.

The driver reportedly suffers from Moyamoya disease, a rare vascular brain disease. He initially told investigators it did not interfere with his driving but later reversed his testimony to claim his condition was serious and could have caused the accident.

On Monday, two people killed and four others were injured after a chain-reaction accident involving 13 vehicles, including a tank truck, occurred on an expressway in the southeastern city of Yeongcheon.

The chain rear-end collisions occurred on a bridge near the Shinnyeong interchange on the Sangju-Yeongcheon expressway, about 320 kilometres southeast of Seoul, at 3:12 am, when the 26-ton tank truck loaded with 24,000 litres of bunker C oil rear-ended a 25-ton cargo truck, according to police.

Afterwards, a 14-tonne truck rear-ended the tank truck, leading to a chain reaction of collisions among seven other vehicles, including passenger cars and a bus.

Also, several H beams loaded on one of the trucks fell on the opposite lane, causing additional collisions of a passenger car, another tank truck and a 13-ton cargo truck, as they tried to avoid the fallen objects.

Police said two passenger car drivers and one truck driver were killed, and four others were injured in the accident. They added some 20 passengers on the bus were not injured.

The accident resulted in fires in three vehicles -- a tank truck, a 14-ton cargo truck and a 2.5-ton cargo truck -- but they were completely extinguished in two hours and 30 minutes.

Police said oil from one of the tank trucks involved in the accident flowed into nearby rice paddies and waterways.

/IANS