At least 22 people have been confirmed dead while three others were injured, local authorities say.
  • @Plopp@lemmy.worldEnglish
    50•5 months ago

    They should switch their production line from exploding lithium ion batteries to regular lithium ion batteries.

  • @wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
    18•5 months ago

    In other news. A factory fire in Hull, England received nothing more than local news coverage this week. Their product? Hand sanitizer. Turns out that 99% alcohol is really flamible.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/fire-breaks-out-at-hull-factory-and-spreads-to-area-holding-1000-litres-of-hand-sanitiser/ar-BB1oyRi8

    I wonder why there’s such a huge disparity in news coverage between these two stories. I guess it’s because the building was evacuated successfully, right?

    • @neo@lemy.lolEnglish
      19•5 months ago

      I think you’re correct. In South Korea at least 22 people died. The article you linked doesn’t mention any casualties (or I didn’t notice them).

    • hannes3120English
      1•5 months ago

      I think when if it would have been evacuated in time there would still be news coverage

      People just love reading and therefore clicking stories that tell them that electric cars are bad and they should just continue buying gas powered vehicles instead of considering a change

      Same as with that tanker that burned out on the coast of the Netherlands with some EVs on board

      A lot of stories where covering it in a way that implied the fire was because of those EVs when in the end the level where they were stored was among the very few that was still intact - but that didn’t make the news…

  • peopleproblemsEnglish
    3•5 months ago

    So, maybe this is hindsight, but why were battery inspections and storage in the same location? If the batteries failed inspection (which I’m guessing the exploding ones would have, or at least do now) they should be kept separately from known good batteries right?

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    2•5 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    A massive factory fire that began after several lithium batteries exploded has killed at least 22 people in South Korea.The blaze broke out on Monday morning at the Aricell plant in Hwaseong city, about 45km (28 miles) south of the capital Seoul.

    Local television footage showed large smoke clouds and small explosions going off as firefighters sought to put out the fire.

    A part of the roof had collapsed.South Korea is a leading producer of lithium batteries, which are used in many items from electric vehicles to laptops.Fire official Kim Jin-young said 18 Chinese, one Laotian and two South Korean workers had been confirmed as among the dead.

    “Most of the bodies are badly burned so it will take some time to identify each one,” Mr Kim said, according to news agency AFP.A further eight people were injured - two seriously - out of the 100 who had been working when the fire broke out.The Aricell factory housed an estimated 35,000 battery cells on its second floor, where the batteries were inspected and packaged, with more stored elsewhere.Mr Kim said the fire began when a series of battery cells exploded, though it remains unclear what triggered the initial explosions.He explained it was difficult to enter the site initially “due to fears of additional explosions”.It is not yet clear what started the blaze.

    “Battery materials such as nickel are easily flammable,” he told Reuters news agency.

    "As a lithium fire can react intensely with water, firefighters had to use dry sand to extinguish the blaze, which took several hours to get under control.However, there is still a risk that after the fire is extinguished, it could reignite without warning due to the chemical reaction.

    The original article contains 364 words, the summary contains 283 words. Saved 22%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!