Chemical leak in South Korea, 16 people hospitalized

According to Yonhap, on September 27, a toxic chemical leak occurred at a factory in the industrial city of Ulsan, southeast of South Korea, causing 16 people to be hospitalized.

Scene of the chemical leak. Photo: YONHAP

The Korea Emergency Management Agency said that at 10:15 a.m. local time, firefighters received a call reporting a burning smell and white smoke coming from a synthetic resin factory in Ulju district, Ulsan city, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Smoke rose during testing of a reactor containing about 50kg of epoxy, a chemical compound, and the temperature of the reactor suddenly increased to 200 degrees Celsius.

Firefighters mobilized 42 personnel and 16 fire trucks to cool the reactor. During this process, a 15m long pipe near the reactor caught fire and was extinguished after 2 minutes.

All workers working at the factory at the time were safely evacuated, but 16 people, including four trainees at a nearby business center, had symptoms such as eye irritation and nausea and were taken to hospital for treatment.

Authorities detected small amounts of toxic chemicals such as toluene and ozone at several locations near the plant and have not detected any additional substances so far.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the leak.

SOUTH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ro-ri-hoa-chat-o-han-quoc-16-nguoi-nhap-vien-post761031.html