An explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon plant in Oesam-dong, Yuseong-gu, killed five workers and left one with serious injuries and another with minor injuries.
According to police and fire authorities, the explosion occurred at around 10:59 a.m. Wednesday in Building 56 of Hanwha Aerospace's (012450.KS) Daejeon plant in Oesam-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
Fire authorities issued a Level 1 emergency response at around 11:17 a.m. and brought the fire under initial control 50 minutes after it broke out.
All five fatalities were found inside the plant where the explosion occurred and were on-site workers belonging to the production team.
"The explosion was identified as having occurred during a rocket propellant cleaning process in the 'cleaning room' of Building 56," a Hanwha Aerospace official said. "The blast appears to have taken place during the process of cleaning explosive residue from tools."
"After the 2018 and 2019 accidents, we spent a significant amount of money to automate and reorganize the process, but today's accident occurred in a process that was recognized as carrying limited risk and presents difficulties for automation," the official added. "The plant is currently closed, and the exact cause of the fire can only be determined after access routes are established and a forensic examination is conducted."
Police and fire authorities plan to obtain building blueprints from officials and investigate the detailed cause of the fire. The building's structure has reportedly collapsed entirely, making immediate access to the site difficult.
Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon plant has previously experienced explosion accidents in 2018 and 2019. In a May 2018 explosion, two workers died at the scene and three others, who suffered severe burns, later died while receiving hospital treatment. In February 2019, an explosion and fire at the propellant demolding room in Building 70 of the Daejeon plant killed three workers.
