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Police official Kim Jong-min said the company had stepped up production to make up for a backlog of orders and meet deadlines after failing a quality inspection in April for batteries intended to be supplied to the South Korean military.
SEOUL, South Korea — A fire at a lithium-ion battery manufacturer in June that killed 23 people was caused by the company rushing to produce cells to meet a deadline without taking steps to address signs of dangerous quality faults, South Korean police said Friday.
Nine other workers were injured. Fire breaks out at battery manufacturer Aricellwhich is majority owned by S-Connect. Aricell was called for comment after the police announcement, but the company has previously said it has followed all necessary safety precautions and training.
Police have ordered the factory to halt production and are investigating the fire, one of South Korea’s worst industrial accidents in recent years, for suspected safety violations.
The Labor Ministry and police have sought arrest warrants for several executives, including the CEO, for suspected safety violations and dereliction of duty, officials said at a news conference.
Police official Kim Jong-min said the company increased production to meet the deadline after batteries it was scheduled to supply to the South Korean military failed quality inspections in April.
Kim Yong-chul said the company hired temporary and unskilled workers, leading to a rise in product defects, including overheating of finished batteries, without taking steps to control safety risks.
He said: “The accident happened because the company did not take any measures and continued production despite problems at every stage of the production process.”
King said the high number of casualties was due to a lack of emergency escape training. He said the workers who died missed 37 seconds to escape.
Surveillance video showed the fire started by a pile of batteries and quickly engulfed the factory, which was storing 35,000 lithium batteries.
Fire officials previously said toxic fumes could render workers unconscious within seconds.
Among the dead, 17 were Chinese, 1 was Laotian, and the rest were Korean.
Shortly after the fire, Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan apologized to everyone affected by the accident.
President Park said at the time that the company had taken all necessary safety precautions and training, but pledged to participate in the investigation to ensure such accidents do not happen again.
At a news conference on Friday, authorities said they had applied for an arrest warrant for Park on charges including violations of the Industrial Safety Act.
Founded in 2020, Aricell has 48 full-time employees and produces lithium primary batteries for sensors and radio communication devices.
A spokesman for South Korea’s defense procurement agency said the company had supplied batteries to the military for use in some communications and encryption equipment. – Rappler.com
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