SEOUL, June 01 (AJP) - An explosion at a Hanwha Aerospace factory in South Korea killed at least five people and injured two on Monday morning, according to police and rescuers. The blast prompted an emergency response as rescue workers continue to search for three unaccounted individuals.
The incident occurred at 10:59 a.m. (0159 GMT) at the company's plant in Oesam, located in Daejeon's Yuseong District. Emergency dispatchers received about 30 simultaneous calls from people in the area who reported they "heard an explosion" and that "a lot of smoke is coming out" from the site.
Fire authorities issued a Level 1 emergency response at 11:17 a.m. and are currently working to extinguish the resulting fire. Initial statements from the police reported four dead and two injured, but official on-site confirmations currently stand at five fatalities and two injured, with possibilities of more unfound victims at the site.
Authorities suspect the blast originated on the first floor of the factory, though the exact trigger remains unknown. Police and fire officials will launch a joint investigation to determine the cause of the incident and confirm the final casualty toll as soon as the flames are fully suppressed.
Hanwha Group and Hanwha Aerospace issued a joint statement later in the day, expressing condolences over the deaths and apologizing to the public.
“We are deeply saddened and devastated by the deaths of five precious employees in the accident that occurred this morning at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon plant,” the companies said. “Hanwha Group and Hanwha Aerospace express our deepest condolences.”
They also said they would provide full support for the treatment of injured workers and cooperate with fire and police authorities in handling the aftermath.
A Hanwha Aerospace official said the statement was issued jointly at the group level, rather than only by Hanwha Aerospace, given the gravity of the accident.
Hanwha Aerospace said CEO Son Jae-il convened an emergency meeting at the company’s Seoul headquarters immediately after the accident and headed to the site afterward. The company has also set up an emergency response headquarters at the scene to work with relevant authorities.
Ga Jae-woong, head of Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon plant, told reporters at the site in Yuseong District that the fire occurred during a process to clean propellant used for launch vehicles.
“The fire broke out during a process to clean launch vehicle propellant,” Ga said. “Various tools are used in the process of cleaning explosive materials, and the accident appears to have occurred while those tools were being cleaned.”
He said the cleaning process was not considered particularly dangerous because explosive materials are generally thought to lose their risk when they come into contact with water.
“We need to determine exactly what caused it,” Ga said. “At this point, it is difficult to estimate the exact cause of the explosion, and we will know only after examining the site.”
The Daejeon plant is considered one of Hanwha Aerospace’s key facilities for aerospace, defense and space-related equipment. The site handles work related to large propulsion systems, propellant mixing and filling, and tactical surface-to-surface weapons systems.
The plant has faced scrutiny in the past over safety management. After a 2018 explosion that left nine people dead or injured, a special labor inspection found hundreds of legal violations.
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