A fire at a lithium battery factory near Seoul on Monday killed at least 16 workers and left six others missing, officials said.
The toll from the blaze, one of the deadliest in South Korea in recent years, was expected to rise as rescuers searched the building in Hwaseong, 28 miles south of Seoul.
Kim Jin-young, an official with the Hwaseong Fire Department, said 102 people had been working in the factory, owned by the battery maker Aricell, when the fire broke out.
Many of the dead and missing workers were migrants from China and other countries, and officials feared they had been trapped inside the building.
Workers who fled the fire said it started when a single battery cell caught fire, triggering a series of explosions among some of the 35,000 lithium battery cells stored on the factory’s second floor, according to Mr. Kim.
Persons:
Kim Jin, Kim
Organizations:
Hwaseong Fire Department, Workers
Locations:
Seoul , South Korea, Hwaseong, Seoul, China