1 of 2 | Firefighters search for missing people at a car parts plant after a large fire engulfed the building in Daejeon, South Korea, Friday. Photo by Yonhap/EPA
A fire at a Daejeon, South Korea, car parts factory Friday has killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more.
There were nearly 60 injured in the fire in a three-floor plant. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that some of the injured had inhaled smoke, and some were injured when they jumped from the building. It said 25 were seriously injured, but it didn’t say if any were in life-threatening condition. There were 170 people inside when the fire erupted.
Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok district, said almost all of the bodies were found inside a third-floor space that had been used as a gym locker room, The New York Times reported. Some bodies were so badly burned it will take DNA testing to identify them.
Nam said workers recovered more than 220 pounds of highly reactive chemicals from the site before firefighters could spray water on the fire, and some witnesses have reported that there was an explosion when the fire began.
All of those missing have now been found, The Guardian reported.
Officials said they are still investigating the cause of the fire.
Firefighters said they couldn’t enter the structure earlier for fear of collapse.
They used unmanned robots Friday to cool the structure and do a safety inspection before they were able to go in and search for missing workers.
Daejeon is in central South Korea.
