Fire at battery factory in South Korea claims lives
A battery catches fire. A chain reaction ensues and within 15 seconds the factory is full of toxic smoke and visibility is lost.
At least 22 people were killed in a major fire at a South Korean battery factory on Monday. The factory produces non-rechargeable lithium batteries (Li-SOCl2). The dead are mainly migrant workers: 18 Chinese, one Laotian, two South Koreans and one worker of unknown nationality. Another person is still missing and several are seriously injured. A total of 102 people were working in the building at the time of the accident.
The fire is said to have ignited explosively in a single battery cell at around 10:30 a.m. local time and immediately spread to other battery cells, which then also exploded. According to a report, around 145 firefighters responded, but were only able to enter the building after more than four and a half hours. Lithium fires are extremely difficult to fight. Numerous explosions and the resulting flying concrete parts made the work even more difficult. The search for the missing person is ongoing; the firefighting operation is also continuing, as there are fears of further ignitions. The factory contained tens of thousands of lithium batteries.
The fire department has analyzed footage from a surveillance camera; according to this, the building was so filled with smoke just 15 seconds after the fire broke out on the first of two upper floors that the workers could no longer see anything. According to the fire department, just one or two breaths in the smoke could lead to loss of consciousness. The factory workers' attempts to stop the fire with fire extinguishers were unsuccessful. They then fled to an area on the first floor from which there was no way out.
Temporary workers could not find escape routes
There were two open escape routes in other places. The victims were probably not employed directly by the manufacturer Aricell, but mainly worked for a temporary employment agency. The fire department therefore assumes that they did not know their way around the building well and therefore ran in the wrong direction.
President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the scene of the accident and ordered the government to draw up plans to prevent another similar disaster. Several authorities have started investigations.
Aricell produces lithium thionyl chloride batteries at the plant. They can only be used once and cannot be recharged afterwards. They are characterized by their relatively high voltage (nominally 3.6 volts), low self-discharge, high energy density and long shelf life. Among other things, sulphur and sulphur dioxide are produced during the discharging process.
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