South Korean authorities have confirmed that the serious The fire that affected a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong (45 kilometers south of Seoul) has caused at least 22 deaths, most of them Chinese nationals, and one missing person.
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The Hwaseong Fire Department also announced that there are eight injured, of which two are in serious condition and six have minor injuries.
It has also been confirmed so far that, of the deceased, 18 have Chinese nationality and two have South Korean nationality.
There is also a person from Laos among the fatalities, and another whose identity has not yet been clarified, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The fire started around 10:30 local time (1:30 GMT) and for hours the firefighters tried to put out the fire, something very complicated due to the large number of lithium batteries (believed to be around 35,000) that was inside the three-story building.
A worker who managed to escape the fire and found himself on the second floor told the firefighters that one of the batteries suddenly suffered explosive combustion.
It took firefighters almost four hours to extinguish the flames and, during that period, it was reported that they had not been able to contact at least twenty of the employees of the plant, owned by the company Aricell.
Although the origin of the fire is still unknown, a worker who managed to escape the fire and found himself on the second floor told the firefighters that suddenly one of the batteries suffered explosive combustion.
This could have generated a chain reaction given the large number of lithium batteries stored in the facility.
Images captured by local televisions have shown explosions and sparks occurring in the building while firefighters were putting out the flames.
Hwaseong firefighters finally managed to control the flames around 3:10 p.m. local time (6:10 GMT), almost four hours after the fire started.
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