An explosion in a South Korean shipyard in the province of South Jeolla has left two workers dead and nine more injured, according to local police authorities and news reports.
The circumstances surrounding the explosion are not yet entirely clear, however reports indicate that the incident occurred in the town of Yeongam, approximately 400 kilometres south of Seoul, at an industrial shipyard in the Daebul Complex. At around 8.09am on the 31st October, 2012, an explosion occurred at the shipyard, devastating the complex. At the time of the incident, 12 workers were working on a block assembly inside the ship that exploded.
According to police reports, the workers had smelt gas shortly to the explosion, and were attempting to evacuate the ship when the explosion occurred. Emergency services and the fire department rushed to the scene to extinguish the flames caused by the explosion and to rescue injured workers. Unfortunately, two of the workers were pronounced dead on the scene, with a further nine sustaining serious injuries including burns. One worker is still missing.
The injured workers were treated with appropriate first aid measures on the scene by emergency services personnel, and then were transferred to local hospitals. Most of them have now been discharged, with two workers remaining in hospital in a stable condition.
The Daebul Industrial Complex is one of the largest shipyards in South Korea, and is home to Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, on the of world’s biggest shipbuilders. It is not clear whether the workers that were injured or killed in the accident were working for Hyundai or were part of an external team who were conducting repairs on some ships at the time.
Police services are conducting a thorough investigation into the incident in order to determine the cause of the explosion. From the surviving worker’s reports of smelling gas, it appears that a fuel leak of some kind may have played a contributory role. However, the investigation may take weeks to complete, said a spokesperson for the Daebul Industrial Complex.
This explosion is remarkably similar to a December 2011 explosion that occurred in a shipyard operated by Sejin Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. The Ulsan explosion killed four workers and injured more than 20. In the wake of the recent explosion, lobbyists for maritime safety have called for a revision of safety policies in Korean shipyards in order to prevent similar fatal accidents from occurring in the future.
