Photo : YONHAP News
The police on Tuesday conducted a joint investigation of the site of a deadly fire that killed at least 23 people at a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province on Monday.
A team of police, firefighters, forensic experts and other government officials carried out the joint investigation of the factory for about four hours on Tuesday afternoon, focusing on efforts to determine the cause of the accident.
The police, which set up a probe team soon after the fire, filed charges against five officials from Aricell, a battery manufacturer that owned the ill-fated plant, including CEO Park Soon-kwan, on charges of professional negligence resulting in deaths.
The five accused were all banned from leaving the country, while Park was also charged with violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act.
The joint inspection team plans to conduct additional investigation after analyzing Tuesday’s on-site investigation.
Fire authorities wrapped up search for a missing worker after recovering another body on Tuesday, with the death toll from the fire rising to 23.
Three victims of the 23 deaths were identified as Koreans, but the identification of the others is likely to take dime due to the severe damage to the bodies.
Of the eight people injured from the fire, six of them were seriously injured, with one of them reported to be in critical condition.
Fire authorities suspect the fire started from lithium batteries, which caused a series of explosion and covered the workroom with smoke and flames in just 15 seconds.
Fire authorities said the workers at the scene tried to put out the fire in the early stage using fire extinguishers, but failed.
They added that the blaze started at the entrance, but the workers evacuated inside the workroom, resulting in heavy casualties.