South Korean authorities ordered a halt on Wednesday to the operations of a producer of lithium batteries after a fireplace killed 23 folks, as they examine three firm officers for suspected security violations.
Monday’s hearth at unlisted battery maker Aricell was one of many deadliest industrial accidents of latest years. Dozens of South Korean staff lose their lives on the job every year, regardless of harder legal guidelines and measures to enhance security.
The corporate within the industrial hub of Hwaseong southwest of Seoul, the capital, was instructed to close its solely manufacturing facility for inspection, Min Gil-soo, an official of the labor ministry, instructed a briefing.
Deadly Explosion in Korea Revives Concerns Over Battery Safety
Police raided the corporate’s workplaces on Wednesday, the Yonhap information company mentioned. Authorities didn’t establish the corporate officers being investigated, nevertheless. Security code violations can result in jail phrases for deadly accidents.
Aricell Chief Government Park Quickly-kwan apologized on Tuesday for the hearth, however mentioned the corporate had adopted all security laws and coaching necessities.
Flames shortly engulfed the manufacturing facility, the place 35,000 lithium batteries have been saved, and the unfold of poisonous smoke in all probability rendered staff unconscious inside seconds, hearth officers have mentioned.
Solely three of the useless, all of them South Korean males, have been recognized. The remaining, together with 17 Chinese language, have but to be recognized as their our bodies suffered extreme injury within the hearth.
Investigators are attempting to find out the reason for the blaze amid questions on Aricell’s hiring of international staff on a brief foundation and whether or not they obtained sufficient security coaching.
The workplace of a lawmaker, Kim Sung-hoi, supplied a duplicate of a March inspection report by the Hwaseong hearth division that confirmed it had flagged critical dangers, together with potential “fast combustion” on the constructing the place the hearth broke out.
The hearth division was not obtainable for remark.
Arrange in 2020, Aricell has 48 full-time staff and makes lithium main batteries for sensors and radio communication units.
It additionally provides batteries to the army to be used in some communication and crypto units, a spokesperson for South Korea’s protection procurement company mentioned.
The company’s annual security inspections cowl suppliers in some classes, similar to firearms and chemical compounds, however exclude battery makers similar to Aricell, the spokesperson added.
Its mum or dad, S-Join, provides lithium-ion battery components to Samsung, one of many nation’s main secondary battery makers.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; modifying by Edwina Gibbs and Clarence Fernandez)
{Photograph}: Firefighters work on the website of lithium battery manufacturing manufacturing facility in Hwaseong, South Korea, on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Hong Ki-wonj/Yonhap by way of AP)
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