Firefighters in the city of Hwaseong (45 kilometers south of Seoul) reported this Monday the discovery of “about twenty bodies” at a battery factory suffered a serious fire, Yonhap news agency reported.

The fire started around 10:30 local time (GMT) and for several hours firefighters reported that 23 employees could not be contacted who today worked at the Aricell plant, so there was fear for life.

At this time, no more specific information has been provided about the condition of the victims, which is common in cases of this type in South Korea, where Only a doctor can confirm death. At the moment, one person has been officially confirmed dead and three injured.

The number of people who could not be contacted for hours moved from 21 to 23, although it is believed that the numbers may have changed since the list reflecting the number of permanent and temporary employees present at the plant today was destroyed by fire.

It is believed that of these 23 people, about 20 are foreigners, including people of Chinese citizenship, Yonhap news agency reported.

Although it’s still unknown What could have been the cause of the fire inside this building? – which has an area of ​​about 2,300 square meters, occupies three floors and is built of reinforced concrete – a worker who managed to escape the fire and was on the second floor told firefighters that one of the radiators suddenly caught fire. explosive

This could give rise to chain reaction given the large number of lithium batteries about 35,000 people were inside the building.

Footage filmed by local television showed explosions and sparks occur inside the building as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames.

Hwaseong firefighters finally managed to contain the flames around 15:10 local time, almost four hours after the fire started.

(according to information from EFE)