Among the 22 people killed in a fire at a lithium battery plant in South Korea, 18 were Chinese, fire officials said Monday, adding that one person was still missing.
“Twenty foreigners are among the deceased, 18 of them Chinese, one from Laos and one person of unknown nationality,” a member of the firefighters, Kim Jin-young, told the press, warning that the identification of the victims was difficult due to the burns.
More than 100 people were working at the factory when a series of explosions were heard in the second plant, where lithium batteries are inspected and packaged, the same source added.
After having managed to control the gigantic fire, the firefighters entered the charred building to extract the bodies.
“Most of the bodies are badly burned so it will take time to identify them,” Kim said.
Firefighters are searching for one person who is still missing, he added, while they conduct “cooling operations to prevent the fire from spreading to other nearby factories.”
The fire took place in Hwaseong, south of the capital, Seoul, in a factory belonging to the South Korean manufacturer Aricell, which specializes in batteries.
Highly flammable, some 35,000 lithium batteries were stored on the second floor of the factory when the fire broke out.
“It was difficult to enter the building because we were afraid that there would be other explosions,” Kim said, specifying that firefighters fought the flames with “dry sand.”
Dozens of fire trucks were parked outside the plant, an AFP journalist found. The rescuers took out the bodies, covered with blue sheets.
Images released by the Yonhap agency showed large columns of smoke emerging from the plant devastated by flames.
Warnings
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol asked authorities to “mobilize all available personnel and equipment to concentrate on the search and rescue of people,” his office said.
The president also warned the authorities that they had to “guarantee the safety of firefighters in the face of the rapid spread of the fire.”
Local authorities advised Hwaseong residents to stay home.
«There is a lot of smoke due to fires in a factory. Please pay attention to safety, in particular by refraining from going out,” said an alert message sent by SMS.
«Fire in a factory. Please detour onto neighboring roads and residents are asked to close their windows,” prayed another.
South Korea is a major producer of batteries, including those for electric vehicles.
Lithium batteries are used in all types of sectors, such as for electric vehicles or laptop computers.
This fire is one of the worst industrial disasters recorded in the country in years.
In 1989, an accident at a chemical plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, left 16 dead and 17 injured. In 2020, 38 people died in a warehouse fire in Icheon, south of Seoul.
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2024-06-26 01:52:36