SAFETY NEEDED: South Korea’s president has called for better worker protections, with data showing that more than 10,000 workers have died on the job from 2020 to 2024
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AFP, SEOUL
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Rescuers combed the charred wreckage of a South Korean car parts factory for missing people after a fire killed at least 11 people and injured dozens more, authorities said yesterday.
Fire crews were initially unable to enter the factory in the central city of Daejeon due to the risk of the building collapsing.
The response was also hampered by sodium stored at the site, which could explode if improperly handled, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
Firefighters spray water to extinguish a fire at a car parts plant in Daejeon, South Korea, on Friday.
Photo: Yonhap / AFP
About 170 workers were at the plant when the fire erupted at about 1pm on Friday, Yonhap said.
“We understand that 11 are dead, 25 are seriously injured,” an official from the South Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s department that handles fires and other disasters said. “We also understand that 34 have been injured, but not in a serious condition, and three are still missing.”
Officials have not said what might have caused the fire, which spread rapidly.
A witness told Yonhap they heard an explosion.
Fire crews could be seen shooting water onto the site from cranes while a thick column of black smoke filled the sky in images released by Yonhap.
The fire was extinguished by yesterday afternoon.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung told officials to mobilize all available resources — including personnel and equipment — for rescue operations, his office said.
Lee has called for better protections for the country’s workers, more than 10,000 of whom died on the job from 2000 to 2024, official statistics showed.
In September last year, South Korea sentenced the CEO of battery maker Aricell to 15 years in prison over one of the country’s worst industrial fires.
The 2024 blaze at the lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, killed 22 people, most of them Chinese nationals.
In its verdict, the Suwon District Court said the company had prioritized profit over workers’ safety.
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