S. Korea battery maker apologises for blaze that killed 23

Firm says it complied with rules, vows to take measures to prevent repeat accident

- 

The chief executive officer of a South Korean lithium battery manufacturer apologised on June 25 following a massive factory fire that killed 23 workers, but said the company had complied with all required safety precautions and training.

The fire on June 24, which began at a factory with 35,000 lithium batteries, produced thick smoke that spread quickly and the workers inside the second-floor location likely lost consciousness and succumbed within seconds, fire officials said.

Firefighters with search dogs combed the gutted structure on June 25 in Hwaseong, an industrial cluster south-west of the capital Seoul, and found the last person who had been unaccounted for, raising the death toll to 23.

Seventeen of those who died were Chinese, and one was Laotian. The rest were South Koreans.

Most of them were temporary workers at the plant which is run by South Korea-based Aricell, majority-owned by S-Connect.