President Yoon Urgently Inspects Fire Site at Hwaseong Factory

President Yoon Suk-yeol is visiting the site of a fire at a lithium battery manufacturing plant located in Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province, on the afternoon of the 24th to assess the situation. [Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the site of a fire at a primary battery manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province on the afternoon of the 24th to conduct an emergency inspection of the situation.

According to the Blue House, President Yoon received a report on the cause of the fire and the situation at the site for about an hour from Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min that afternoon before personally visiting the fire scene.

Earlier, upon learning of the fire in the morning, President Yoon instructed the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and firefighting authorities to "mobilize all available personnel and equipment to fully focus on searching for and rescuing victims."

According to firefighting authorities, the fire broke out around 10:31 a.m. at the Arisell factory, a primary battery manufacturer located in Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

The Hwaseong Fire Department in Gyeonggi Province announced at a briefing at the fire site that as of 6:30 p.m., the casualties numbered 22 dead, 2 seriously injured, and 6 lightly injured.

Of the 22 deceased, 20 were foreigners: 18 Chinese nationals, 1 Laotian national, and 1 unidentified nationality. The other 2 were Korean nationals.

Firefighting authorities are continuing search operations for one person who has not been contacted in addition to the 30 casualties.

President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the site of a fire at a lithium battery manufacturing plant located in Seosin-myeon, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province, on the afternoon of the 24th to assess the situation. [Image source=Yonhap News]