A series of fires and explosions broke out at a lithium battery factory in an industrial area of South Korea on Monday, killing at least 22 people, multiple media reports said.
Published videos Reuters and Sky News Fire engines arrived at the scene of the fire, with smoke rising high into the sky. The warehouse was left smoldering after firefighters extinguished the blaze. The factory, owned by South Korean lithium battery maker Aricell, is located in Hwaseong, a major industrial hub about 90 minutes southwest of Seoul, according to Reuters. report.
The fire broke out at about 10:31 a.m. local time (10:31 p.m. EST Sunday), Kim Jin-young, an official at Hwaseong Fire Station, told reporters, according to Reuters. Nineteen of the dead were foreign workers, 18 of them Chinese and one Laotian, Kim added. Two of the remaining three were South Korean, the agency said, and the identity of the third was yet to be determined.
The fire spread within 15 seconds and took six hours to extinguish, according to the media. The warehouse where the fire broke out reportedly contained 35,000 batteries. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, the media reported.
A massive explosion and fire occurred at a lithium battery factory in South Korea, killing 22 workers, authorities said.
Eight people were also injured in the fire.
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According to Reuters, the people likely died within seconds of inhaling highly toxic gases released by the fire, which was so intense that it was initially difficult to identify them.
Sky News reported that eight people were injured. Authorities said two people suffered severe burns, according to Reuters. Reports said smoke, rather than flames, was the cause of most of the casualties.
Most of the foreign workers who died were temporary workers who may have been unfamiliar with the warehouse's structure, Gyeonggi provincial fire official Cho Seung-ho said, according to the media. (Related article: Maintenance worker dies of heart attack after becoming trapped in equipment at food processing plant: Report)
“We thought there were gunshots and shells falling from the war,” a worker at a nearby restaurant frequented by factory workers told Reuters. “It was so loud, there was this constant rumbling.”
“It's really sad,” another restaurant worker told Reuters. “The victims used to come here every day and today they didn't come. I don't have an appetite anymore, I don't want to eat dinner or anything because I feel so sorry for them.”
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeo reportedly inspected the site.
“Battery materials such as nickel are highly flammable,” Kim Jae-ho, a professor of fire prevention and disaster prevention at Daejeon University, told Reuters. “Compared to fires caused by other materials, there is often not enough time to respond.”
Highly toxic materials are often used in battery manufacturing.
Founded in 2020 and employing 48 people, Arisel reportedly makes lithium primary batteries for wireless communication systems and sensors.
South Korea is home to two of the world's largest automakers, Hyundai and Kia, and is a major producer of lithium-ion batteries, which are often used in electric vehicles, according to Reuters.
