Fire at Hwaseong Plant Fully Extinguished After 22 Hours... Search for Missing Persons Enters Second Day

Joint On-Site Inspection Scheduled for the Morning of the 25th

The fire that broke out at the Arisel factory, a primary battery manufacturer in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province, was completely extinguished after about 22 hours.

Firefighters are busily moving at the scene of a fire at a primary battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province.
[Photo by Kang Jin-hyung]

The Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters announced on the 25th at 8:48 a.m. that the firefighting operation at the Arisel factory had been completed. However, the search for the missing person at the site continues into the second day. The fire authorities stationed three auxiliary vehicles equipped with lighting near the fire site and conducted overnight search operations to find one person who has lost contact. The fire authorities plan to continue the search with about 100 personnel and two rescue dogs until the missing person is found.

The emergency alert issued at the fire site was lifted at 12:42 a.m. on the same day. The Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters had issued a Level 1 response (an alert involving 31 to 50 pieces of equipment from 3 to 7 fire stations) around 10:40 a.m. the previous day, and expanded the emergency alert to Level 2 response (an alert involving 51 to 80 pieces of equipment from 8 to 14 fire stations) around 10:54 a.m.

Earlier, a fire broke out on the second floor of Building 3 at the Arisel factory at 10:31 a.m. the previous day, resulting in the deaths of 22 workers. Among the 22 deceased, 20 were foreigners: 18 Chinese nationals, 1 Laotian national, 1 unidentified, and 2 Koreans. Most of the deceased were found gathered in the workshop connected to the ignition point on the second floor of Building 3. Most of the victims were day laborers unfamiliar with the internal structure, which contributed to the scale of the casualties.

The Hwaseong Arisel Factory Fire Investigation Headquarters of the Southern Gyeonggi Police Agency will conduct a joint on-site investigation starting at 10:30 a.m. on the same day with the fire authorities, the National Forensic Service, the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency to determine the cause of the fire.