S.Korea battery maker apologises for deadly fire but says it complied with safety rules (updated)

S Connect Co

25/06/2024 11:53

(Adds background on migrant workers in South Korea, video
footage inside the factory, paragraphs 6, 19-21)
    By Hyunsu Yim, Dogyun Kim and Daewoung Kim
       HWASEONG, South Korea, June 25 (Reuters) - The CEO of a
South Korean lithium battery manufacturer apologised on Tuesday
following a massive factory fire that killed 23 workers, but
said the company had complied with all required safety
precautions and training.
        The fire on Monday, which began at a factory with 35,000
lithium batteries, produced thick smoke that spread quickly and
the workers inside the second-floor location likely lost
consciousness and succumbed within seconds, fire officials said.
    Firefighters with search dogs combed the gutted structure on
Tuesday in Hwaseong, an industrial cluster southwest of the
capital Seoul, and found the last person who had been
unaccounted for, raising the death toll to 23.
    Seventeen of those who died were Chinese, and one was
Laotian. The rest were South Koreans.
        Most of them were temporary workers at the plant which
is run by South Korea-based Aricell, majority-owned by S-Connect
 096630.KQ .
    Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in South Korea are
at risk from accidents like the factory fire, as they make up a
large portion of the workforce but face a greater risk of injury
or death.
        Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan offered condolences to the
workers who were killed and apologised to everyone who had been
affected by the accident.
        "We will be conscientiously taking part in the
investigation by authorities and will do our best to determine
the cause of the accident and to take measures to prevent a
repeat of such an accident," Park told reporters at the scene of
the fire.
    Officials from agencies including the National Forensic
Service, police and the fire department entered the factory as
part of a joint investigation.
    The fire was the latest industrial accident in a country
where dozens of manufacturing workers lose their lives on the
job each year despite repeated calls to improve workplace
safety.
    "I ask the ministries of labour and industry and the
National Fire Agency to conduct an urgent safety inspection and,
where there is concern of an accident, take immediate measures,"
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at a cabinet meeting.
    Park, the Aricell CEO, said the company had fully complied
with safety procedures and training, but more than half of the
103 workers at the factory, including some of those killed, were
contract workers dispatched by a manpower company. 
    Established in 2020, Aricell makes lithium primary batteries
for sensors and radio communication devices. It has 48 full-time
employees, according to its latest regulatory filing and its
LinkedIn profile. 
    Its parent S-Connect supplies lithium-ion battery parts to
Samsung SDI  006400.KS , one of the country's major secondary
battery makers, according to S-Connect's website. 
    Regulatory filings showed Aricell recorded a 2.6 billion won
 ($1.9 million) operating loss last year on 4.8 billion won
revenue, and a 14% increase in accumulated debt to 23.8 billion
won. It has recorded net losses every year since its founding.
    Shares of S-Connect, registered on the junior Kosdaq index,
were trading 1.37% lower on Tuesday after plunging 22.5% on
Monday following the news of the fire. 
    A labour ministry official told Reuters it was investigating
whether Aricell complied with safety regulations and gave
adequate safety training for temporary foreign workers. 
    Violations of those regulations are subject to criminal
prosecution, the official said, requesting anonymity.
    When the fire started, sparks burst and white smoke rose,
followed by several explosions from piles of batteries,
according to a video footage of the inside of the factory, shown
on local media.
        The workers tried to contain the flame with
extinguishers but failed, and the factory room was soon engulfed
in smoke, the video showed.    
  
    Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of
the video.
        Many of the bodies remain unidentified.
    Reuters journalists saw some wailing family members trying
to enter the site, which had been cordoned off. 
    ($1 = 1,386.2000 won)

 (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Daewoung Kim, Dogyun Kim in Hwaseong,
Ju-min Park, Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Writing by Jack Kim;
Editing by Stephen Coates, Jamie Freed and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
 ((jack.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1455;))