The batteries involved in a fatal June 24 factory fire in South Korea were lithium metal batteries, not lithium-ion batteries.
A deadly fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory in June broke out as the company raced to meet a deadline without taking action to address signs of dangerous quality failures, police...
South Korean authorities ordered a halt on Wednesday to the operations of a manufacturer of lithium batteries after a fire killed 23 people, as they investigate three company officials for
A deadly factory blaze has revived concerns over battery safety in South Korea, a key global supplier of lithium-ion cells used in everything from electric vehicles to energy storage...
Manufacture Aricell, which also produces batteries for South Korea''s military, had failed a quality inspection in April and subsequently increased production to make up the backlog, police official Kim Jong-min said on Friday.
It hired temporary and unskilled workers, contributing to a jump in product defect rates, including overheating of finished batteries, but did not take action to contain safety risks, Kim said.
The company was trying to produce 5,000 batteries a day and "started excessive manufacturing", police added.
Further investigations showed that Aricell had passed previous quality inspections by manipulating test samples since it started supplying battery products to the military in 2021, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor and police asked for an arrest warrant for three officials of Aricell, including CEO Park Soon-kwan.
Police further said that the company did not comply with factory safety laws, including a lack of emergency exits and inadequate safety education for employees who did not speak Korean.
Security camera footage showed the fire sparking from a stack of batteries and quickly engulfing the factory where 35,000 lithium batteries were stored.
The spread of toxic smoke probably rendered workers unconscious within seconds, fire officials have said.
Seventeen of those who died were Chinese, and one was Laotian. The rest were South Koreans.
"Because of gross deficiencies, the majority of workers were found on the other side of the emergency exit – even though there were 37 seconds in which they could have evacuated after the initial explosion on June 24," said Kim.
On Thursday, a short circuit or other electrical causes was believed to have sparked a fire at a hotel in Bucheon, west of the capital, Seoul, leaving seven dead and a dozen of others injured.
Victoria Kim is a reporter based in Seoul and focuses on breaking news coverage across the world. More about Victoria Kim
A fire at a lithium battery manufacturing factory near South Korea''s capital on Monday left at least 16 people dead, officials said.
Firefighters work at the site of a burnt lithium battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, June 24, 2024. (Hong Ki-wonj/Yonhap via AP)
Firefighters work at the site of a burnt lithium battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday. June 24, 2024. (Hong Ki-wonj/Yonhap via AP)
Firefighters carry a body at the site of a fire at a lithium battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, June 24, 2024. (Newsis via AP)
A firefighter searches for missing people inside a lithium battery manufacturing factory following a fire in Hwaseong, South Korea, Monday, June 24, 2024. (Newsis/ via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire likely sparked by exploding lithium batteries swept through a manufacturing factory near South Korea''s capital on Monday, killing 22 mostly Chinese migrant workers and injuring eight, officials said.
The fire began after batteries exploded while workers were examining and packaging them on the second floor of the factory in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul, at around 10:30 a.m., fire officials said, citing a witness. They said they would investigate the cause of the blaze.
The dead included 18 Chinese, two South Koreans and one Laotian, local fire official Kim Jin-young told a televised briefing. He said the nationality of one of the dead couldn''t be immediately verified.
In the past few decades, many people from China, including ethnic Koreans, have migrated to South Korea to seek jobs. Like other foreign migrants from Southeast Asian nations, they often end up in factories or in physically demanding and low-paying jobs shunned by more affluent South Koreans.
Kim said that one factory worker remained out of contact and rescuers continued to search the site. He said that two of the eight injured were in serious condition.
The fire started at one of the factory buildings owned by a battery manufacturer, Aricell. He said that authorities would investigate whether fire extinguishing systems were at the site and if they worked.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in consumer goods from laptops to cellphones. They can overheat if damaged, defective or packaged improperly, leading to fires and explosions and making them a hazard for shipment aboard aircraft.
Jo, citing the footage, said workers at the site mobilized fire extinguishers but failed to put out the blaze. They later rushed to an area where there was no exit before they likely inhaled toxic smoke and lost their consciousness, he said. The dead foreign workers were daily laborers so they were not likely familiar with the building''s internal structure, he added.
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