Fire at Factory in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Fully Extinguished After 21 Hours; Firefighters Searching for Missing

A fire that broke out at a factory in Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province (Chungbuk) was completely extinguished after about 21 hours. Fire authorities are now focusing their efforts on searching for the remaining missing workers.
According to the Chungcheongbuk-do Fire Headquarters on the 31st, the fire at a wet tissue and diaper manufacturing plant in Maengdong-myeon, Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province, Duseong-ri, which started at around 2:55 p.m. the previous day, was fully brought under control at 12:08 p.m. that day. The fire authorities have lowered the response level from Level 2 to Level 1 and are simultaneously carrying out mop-up operations and searches for people.
Of the 83 employees who were in the factory at the time of the fire, 81 managed to evacuate, but the whereabouts of two foreign workers remained unknown. At around 12:39 a.m. that day, one unidentified body was found in debris near the stairs on the second floor of the factory building. Police have asked the National Forensic Service (NFS) to identify the body, considering the possibility that it may be one of the two missing workers.
The fire completely destroyed three of the factory’s five buildings, and embers spread to a nearby hill and surrounding factories, causing additional damage. The sandwich panel structure and the large amount of combustible materials inside, such as paper and pulp, caused the flames to spread rapidly. The risk of collapse of the steel frame structure also made nighttime firefighting and search operations difficult. Fire authorities are continuing the search by using heavy equipment to remove debris.
Police and fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of the fire and the full extent of the damage once the search is completed.

425_sama@fnnews.com Choi Seung-han Reporter