Police Indict 9 in Ulsan Power Plant Collapse That Killed 7

Police have indicted nine people in connection with the collapse at Korea East-West Power's Ulsan Thermal Power Plant that killed seven workers and injured two others.

The Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency announced Wednesday that it has indicted three officials from Korea East-West Power, the project owner; four construction managers from HJ Heavy Industries, the main contractor; and two site supervisors from Korea Caco, a subcontractor specializing in demolition blasting.

Police first pointed to Korea Caco, the demolition subcontractor. The two site supervisors were indicted for allegedly deviating from technical specifications.

Korea East-West Power's technical specifications state that "pre-weakening work must start from the top floor, and lower-level main support structures must not be weakened until upper-level weakening is complete." In other words, cutting must proceed from top to bottom. However, police investigation revealed that workers were operating at a height of 25 meters when the accident occurred, while the lower steel structures had already been completely removed.

Four construction managers from HJ Heavy Industries, which was responsible for the demolition work, were also indicted for inadequate supervision. They failed to verify whether construction followed the specifications. While Korea Caco cut steel structures from the bottom up, HJ Heavy Industries did not intervene to stop the practice. Police confirmed the location and size of cut sections through on-site inspections and search warrants. They are currently analyzing samples taken from main columns after measuring their dimensions.

At the top of the chain of responsibility sits Korea East-West Power. Three officials involved in the demolition project were indicted. As the project owner, the company created the specifications requiring top-down cutting but failed to ensure compliance at the site, according to police.

"Once the analysis results are available, we will determine the specific cause of the accident by combining them with statements from those involved," a police official said. "Depending on how the investigation progresses, more people may be indicted."

The accident occurred at approximately 2:02 p.m. on December 6. Boiler Tower No. 5 at Ulsan Thermal Power Plant, measuring 63 meters in height, 25 meters in width, and 15.5 meters in depth, collapsed. Seven of the nine workers at the site were buried and died. Two workers escaped on their own just before being buried but sustained moderate to serious injuries. At the time of the accident, workers were conducting pre-weakening and protective work at the 25-meter level of the boiler tower.