{"id":13397,"date":"2026-03-21T16:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=13397"},"modified":"2026-03-21T16:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:03:30","slug":"11-dead-dozens-injured-in-south-korea-car-plant-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=13397","title":{"rendered":"11 dead, dozens injured in South Korea car plant fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rescuers combed the charred wreckage of a South Korean car parts factory for missing people after a fire killed at least 11 and injured dozens more, authorities told AFP<\/em> on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire crews were initially unable to enter the factory in the central city of Daejeon due to the risk of the building collapsing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response was also hampered by sodium stored at the site, which can explode if improperly handled, according to South Korea\u2019s Yonhap<\/em><\/a> news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 170 workers were at the plant when the fire erupted at about 1pm (4am GMT) on Friday, according to Yonhap<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe understand that 11 are dead, 25 are seriously injured,\u201d an official from the interior ministry\u2019s department that handles fires and other disasters told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also understand that 34 have been injured but not in a serious condition, and three are still missing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials have not said what may have caused the fire, which spread rapidly. A witness told Yonhap<\/em> about hearing an explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fire crews could be seen shooting water onto the site from cranes while a thick column of black smoke filled the sky in images released by Yonhap<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire was extinguished by Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Lee Jae Myung told officials to mobilise all available resources \u2014 including personnel and equipment \u2014 for rescue operations, his office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee has called for better protections for the country\u2019s workers, more than 10,000 of whom died on the job from 2000 to 2024, according to official statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, South Korea sentenced the CEO of battery maker Aricell to 15 years in prison over one of the country\u2019s worst industrial fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 blaze<\/a> at the lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, south of capital Seoul, killed 22 people, most of them Chinese nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its verdict, the Suwon District Court said the company had prioritised profit over workers\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rescuers combed the charred wreckage of a South Korean car parts factory for missing people after a fire killed at least 11 and injured dozens more, authorities told AFP on Saturday. Fire crews were initially unable to enter the factory in the central city of Daejeon due to the risk of the building collapsing. The response was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[{"account":"facebook_3859443944190656_828796993651875","service":"facebook","timestamp":1774109025,"status":"success"}],"rop_publish_now_status":"done","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13399,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13397\/revisions\/13399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}