A fire broke out at a lithium battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, killing at least 16 people, according to local fire officials on June 24.
The Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters said a fire broke out at around 10:31 a.m. on the second floor of Aricell’s three-story manufacturing site. The second floor was used for inspecting and packaging finished products. The fire reportedly began when one of the battery cells exploded, but what triggered the explosion remains unclear.
The fire has largely been extinguished, but firefighters initially struggled to put out the fire, as lithium-ion batteries tend to generate heat and burn for a long time once ignited. The battery cells inside explode continuously, making it difficult for them to extinguish with water. There were 35,000 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries on site.
“The number of missing persons identified so far is 23, but this number may change in the future,” said Hwaseong Fire Station officials at a briefing held this afternoon. Initially, 21 people were reported missing, but after additional verification, the number increased by two. Among those missing, 20 are foreign nationals, two are Korean, and one remains unidentified. By gender, 7 are men, 15 are women, and one is unidentified.
Around 70 workers were on duty this morning when the fire started. Firefighters presume that while most of the workers on the first floor evacuated the building immediately, workers on the second floor were trapped and unable to escape in time.
