Emergency vehicles are parked next to the site of a fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell in Hwaseong on June 24, 2024.
Anthony Wallace | Afp | Getty Images
A fire that broke out at a South Korean lithium battery plant has killed 16 people, according to local fire officials.
Six other people were missing, according to NBC News, while Reuters reporting put the figure at five.
The blaze erupted at the Aricell battery factory in Hwaseong, a city south of Seoul, around 10:31 a.m. local time, officials said. The fire was largely under control by 3:10 p.m. local time and has now been put out.
The plant housed an estimated 35,000 batteries, NBC said. The cause of the fire breakout was not immediately clear.
South Korea’s Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min has called a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and called on response agencies to focus on preventing additional casualties and the spread of the damage, according to a Google-translated social media update from the South Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
This breaking news story is being updated.
