SEOUL: The lithium battery plant fire that killed at least 22 people in Hwaseong in the Republic of Korea on Monday is likely to go down as the worst chemical plant accident in the country’s history, according to Korean news agency Yonhap.
Firefighters are still searching for survivors eight hours after the blaze started at lithium battery maker Aricell’s plant in Hwaseong, 45 kilometres south of Seoul, at around 10.30 local time.
Of the 102 people confirmed to have been working in the three-story building where the fire broke out, 23 people were unaccounted for, including 20 foreign nationals, according to firefighters.
Around 20 bodies were found, presumably of the missing people, after one worker was found dead earlier in the day. Several others sustained injuries. Chemical plants are particularly vulnerable to large-scale accidents due to the highly flammable nature of the chemicals they handle.
Similar accidents have occurred in various parts of the country in the past, with one of the worst being th
e LG Chem plant explosion in Yeosu, 316 kilometres south of Seoul, in 1989. That accident resulted in the deaths of 16 people and 17 others being injured.
In 2011, three workers died, and five others were injured in the explosion of oil mist at an HDC Hyundai EP plant in the southeastern city of Ulsan, while in 2012, eight people were killed and around 10 injured after a chemical solvent drum can exploded at an LG Chem plant in the central city of Cheongju.
Given their wide distribution, with many located inside industrial complexes nationwide, and their often small-scale operations, chemical plants have been a site of tragedies annually, and sometimes multiple times a year, despite regular safety inspections carried out by the government and related agencies.
Chemical plant accidents also require strict follow-up measures as toxic material released in fires or explosions can cause secondary damage to neighbouring areas. Lithium-ion batteries, in particular, are known to be deadly in case of fire, because
they set off a “thermal runaway” process in which increased temperature releases energy that in turn further increases the temperature.
Conventional fire extinguishing methods are rarely enough to put out such fires, as while the fire may appear extinguished from the outside, the batteries are still hundreds of degrees hot on the inside, which can easily spark another fire. The lithium battery plant that caught fire Monday was reportedly storing mostly primary batteries, which pose a lower risk of fire than lithium-ion batteries that are rechargeable.
Still, even primary batteries can be dangerous as lithium in general is highly reactive to air and heat. Around 35,000 lithium batteries were reportedly being stored inside the plant at the time of the fire.
Source: Emirates News Agency