(Hwaseong) Eighteen Chinese nationals were among 22 people killed in a fire at a lithium battery factory in South Korea, firefighters said Monday, adding that one person remained missing.
“Twenty foreigners are among the dead, including 18 Chinese, one Laotian and one person of unknown nationality,” Kim Jin-young, a member of the fire service at the scene, told reporters, adding that identification of the victims was difficult due to of their burns.
More than 100 people were working at the plant when workers heard a series of explosions on the second floor, where lithium batteries are inspected and packaged, the source said.
The fire occurred in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, in a factory belonging to the South Korean manufacturer Aricell, which specializes in batteries.
After successfully controlling the gigantic blaze, firefighters entered the building to extract the bodies. “Most of the bodies are badly burned and it will take time to identify them,” noted Kim Jin-young.
South Korean firefighters are still searching for one person who is still missing, he added.
Initial findings indicate the fire spread within seconds, with toxic fumes immediately overwhelming workers, said Cho Sun-ho, head of the Gyeonggi Province Fire Department.
“White smoke started coming from a room [where the batteries are located] and it only took 15 seconds” for the disaster to spread to the entire space due to the sudden explosion , he explained. As it was a lithium fire, workers’ efforts to extinguish it appear to have been in vain.
“It is assumed that the victims inhaled toxic fumes in a short time which quickly asphyxiated them, causing them to lose consciousness,” he added.
Dozens of fire trucks were lined up outside the factory, an AFP journalist saw, as rescue workers evacuated the bodies, covered in blue blankets, using stretchers.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the disaster site Monday evening, and toured the charred building, wearing a safety helmet and mask, before greeting firefighters.
It appears that “ignition equipment was positioned in front of the emergency exit, which prevented workers from escaping and led to many deaths,” Yoon said.
The president ordered authorities to monitor similar factories that use chemicals and “take measures to prevent such accidents from happening again.”
Highly flammable, around 35,000 lithium batteries are believed to be stored on the second floor of the factory where the fire broke out.
“It was difficult to enter the building because we feared that more explosions would occur,” Kim said, adding that firefighters fought the flames with “dry sand.”
Lithium fires are very difficult to fight with conventional means.
Lithium batteries are used in everything from laptops to electric vehicles.
Images broadcast by the Yonhap agency showed plumes of gray smoke rising above the factory building ravaged by flames.
Local authorities warned residents of Hwaseong town against the smoke, recommending them not to leave their homes.
“There is a lot of smoke from fires in a factory. Please pay attention to safety, including refraining from going out,” reads a text alert message.
South Korea is a major producer of batteries, particularly those used in electric vehicles.
The fire is one of the worst industrial disasters the country has seen in years.
In 1989, an accident at a chemical factory in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, left 16 people dead and 17 injured. In 2020, 38 people died in a warehouse fire in Icheon, south of Seoul.