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A devastating blaze Monday on the basement floor of a cold storage facility in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, killed 40 of at least 57 working in the warehouse at the time. The remaining workers escaped or were rescued and have since been treated in hospital. Seven of them are in serious condition.
According to police and firefighting authorities, the fire started with an explosion in the machine room on the basement floor of the cold storage warehouse of the company, Korea 2000, in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province around 10:50 a.m. on Monday. When the fire broke out, it is believed that 57 workers were installing electric wiring or pumping Freon gas, a refrigerant for cold storage facilities, on the basement floor. The fire soon engulfed the entire building, giving off toxic gases.
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Firefighters are carrying victims to safety from a massive fire at Korea 2000, a cold storage warehouse company in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province on Monday morning.
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At the time of the fire, the warehouse was full of chemicals, including Freon gas, ammonia gas and LP gas canisters. Under these circumstances, large amounts of toxic gases were emitted in the explosion. An Soon-sik (52), a welder who left the building right before the first explosion occurred, said, "I was coming out of the building when I suddenly heard an explosion behind my back. Two more explosions followed 10 seconds apart."
A firefighter from the Icheon Fire Station said welders sparked the flame to do electric welding for cold pipes. ¡°This flame seemed to come in contact with the oil vapors floating in the air and ignited the explosion. The vapors must have been created when a 10-cm-thick layer of urethane foam, an insulating material, was attached to inner walls and the ceilings."
Firefighting authorities said they were to continue search efforts for the time being just in case more bodies could be found. The discovered bodies were too charred to identify.
Construction of the Korea 2000 warehouse started in July and was completed on Nov. 5 last year. The 29,583 sq. m warehouse with one basement floor and two ground floors was expected to begin business on Saturday. On Monday, workers were putting the finishing touches to the facility.
Some 214 fire engines, 622 firefighters, two companies of police troops and 75 emergency rescue squad members were dispatched to rescue victims and put out the fire. But they had difficulties extinguishing the fire as chemicals stacked in the building continued to explode sporadically.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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