Fire at battery factory in South Korea kills at least 22 people

A fire at a lithium battery factory in South Korea, this Monday (24), resulted in the deaths of at least 22 workers. The fire, which has now been controlled, hit a battery manufacturer unit Aricell, in Hwaseong, a city about 45 kilometers from Seoul. 102 people were there at the time of the incident. Aricell is the country’s leading battery manufacturer.

The fire started at around 10:31 am local time and was properly extinguished at 3:10 pm. Videos circulating on social media record the moment of the fire:

Fire breaks out at South Korean lithium primary battery factory, 23 people lost contact, 20 bodies found
pic.twitter.com/b6vmK0opRa

— @airi_fact_555 (@airi_fact_555) June 24, 2024

Firefighters managed to enter the factory and contain the flames. Around 159 firefighters were mobilized to contain the fire. Among the dead, two were Koreans and 20 were foreigners. Most of the bodies are badly burned, so it will take some time to identify each one,” said Kim Jin-young, an official with the Hwaseong Fire Department, according to the BBC.

In addition to the number of deaths confirmed so far, at least two people were seriously injured with burns and five suffered minor injuries.

Aricell factory

According to the fire department, the fire happened on the second floor of the Aricell building, an area that housed around 35,000 battery cells. In this area of ​​the building, the batteries were inspected and packaged. It is still unclear what led to the explosion. The factory that caught fire has three floors, covering an area of ​​2,300 square meters.

Lithium batteries are used in various products, from smartphones to notebooks, drones and even electric cars.

As of the writing of this article, Aricell has not yet issued an official statement about what happened.