Fire at South Korea lithium battery plant kills at least 16 people
A fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory caused 22 deaths, mainly Chinese workers. Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause. President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the site to enhance safety measures.
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A fire at a lithium battery factory in South Korea resulted in the tragic deaths of 22 individuals, primarily Chinese migrant workers. The incident occurred when lithium batteries exploded during examination and packaging on the factory's second floor near Seoul. Eight individuals were also injured in the blaze. The victims included 18 Chinese, two South Koreans, and one Laotian. The factory, owned by Aricell, is under investigation to determine the cause of the fire and the functionality of fire extinguishing systems. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, commonly found in consumer electronics, can pose risks if damaged or packaged incorrectly. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the site to offer condolences and instructed officials to enhance measures for handling battery-related fires. This incident adds to a series of deadly fires in South Korea in recent years, highlighting ongoing challenges in improving safety standards and changing attitudes towards safety in the country.
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10 commentsThis is regrettable. I feel sorry for the people, and their families, who have been injured and killed in these accidents. Industrial activities are dangerous. We should recognize this. We do these activities because we want energy. This is news because battery factories are new, whereas other forms of energy have been around for over a hundred years. An oil refinery catching on fire may make the news, but it won’t get sensationalized or be editorialized as signs of a worrying new trend.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/world/firefighters-battle-mas...
From the article: "Aricell makes lithium primary batteries for sensors and radio communication devices". A "primary battery" is non-rechargeable; and given the use-cases mentioned I expect each individual battery is fairly small.
Of course, when there are 10s of 1000s of them together that's still a lot of energy to burn.
Given what's happening in Ukraine, lithium-powered drones of various types are clearly changing the game over there. It would, to me, make sense to 'cause problems' in that production pipeline.
*removes lithium-foil hat
Sometimes there were so many batteries on fire at once the fire started spreading to neighbouring ones and they couldn't keep up and their bucket (and the spare) got full before they could empty it out.
It was eye-opening...
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