[Reportage] Week after collapse, restoration efforts at Ulsan plant proceed

One week has handed since seven employees have been buried within the collapse of a decommissioned boiler tower at a thermal energy plant in Ulsan’s Yongyeon industrial complicated. The employees’ lives have been claimed by the chilly hand of dying within the wreckage of the metal construction that had as soon as boiled seawater to create electrical energy.

Cranes, diggers, and slicing machines have been in never-ending movement across the wreckage of Boiler Tower No. 5 on the Ulsan thermal energy plant on Wednesday afternoon. That was the place a 30-year-old particular person surnamed Kim has been buried for the reason that collapse one week in the past.

Kim had been a technician with Korea Kacoh, the blasting firm contracted to demolish the outdated boiler tower. On the afternoon of Nov. 6, Kim had been certainly one of a personnel at a spot 25 meters up on the 63-meter-tall boiler tower. That they had been within the technique of weakening the construction — slicing away pillars earlier than the precise demolition.

Kim was the youngest of the employees buried within the rubble, in addition to the one one who was a everlasting worker at Korea Kacoh. On the time of the accident, he had presumably been indicating or checking spots for welding or grinding as a part of the weakening work, whereas referring to the constructing blueprints and the demolition plans.

It seems that Kim had been alternating between blasting jobs on the Ulsan thermal energy plant and the Seocheon thermal energy plant, in South Chungcheong Province. A chart of discipline work assignments at Korea Kacoh reviewed by the Hankyoreh exhibits that Kim had labored on the Ulsan plant from January to March after which in April returned to his earlier worksite on the Seocheon plant. That was when the corporate was gearing up for an additional demolition try at a Seocheon boiler tower after a failed try in March.

Rescue canines have been delivered to the positioning of the collapsed boiler tower at a thermal energy plant in Ulsan on Nov. 12, 2025, because the search continued for employees buried within the rubble. (courtesy of Ulsan Hearth Headquarters)

A 63-year-old welder additionally surnamed Kim (no relation), who had been on the identical 25-meter spot on the boiler tower on the time of the accident, was found within the rubble early on Nov. 7, on the morning after the accident. The rescue employees and Kim have been separated by 3 or 4 meters of horribly mangled metal bars.

Given the danger of a catastrophic collapse of two different boiler towers (Nos. 4 and 6), it was not till these towers have been introduced down in a managed demolition that I-beam slicing machines and different heavy tools have been allowed onto the positioning. At 10:14 pm on Tuesday, after round 110 hours of labor, Kim’s physique was lastly recovered from underneath 5 tons of huge I-beams, every one 30 centimeters thick.

“I cried my eyes on the market in entrance of [the site] as a result of they couldn’t pull him out. I simply needed to crawl in there and convey him out myself,” stated Kim’s older sister, aged 75, who spoke with the Hankyoreh at a funeral residence in Ulsan.

“I suppose he’d held on so long as he may, as a result of his arms and ft have been pressed collectively,” Kim’s teary-eyed sister stated.

A 65-year-old colleague of Kim’s surnamed Lee was discovered close by. Lee’s physique was pulled from the rubble at 5:19 am on Wednesday, seven hours after Kim’s physique.

Two employees are nonetheless buried underneath the rubble. The Nationwide Hearth Company has mobilized round 70 rescue employees and round 40 demolition consultants from the non-public sector for the round the clock rescue efforts.

As quickly because the rescue efforts conclude, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the police will launch an investigation into suspected occupational negligence leading to dying and violations of the Critical Accidents Punishment Act. The authorities plan to assessment associated paperwork — together with pre-demolition rescue security assessments, demolition plans and security administration plans — and are significantly contemplating pursuing court-authorized searches and seizures.

Hearth rescue employees continued to seek for lacking employees within the rubble of the collapsed boiler tower in Ulsan all through the day on Nov. 12, 2025. (Yonhap)

The Korea East-West Energy Co., which issued the tender for the boiler tower demolition; HJ Shipbuilding & Development Co., the prime contractor for the undertaking; and Korea Kacoh, the main subcontractor, haven’t issued any statements in regards to the accident.

“We had a rescue security evaluation carried out earlier than the undertaking and proceeded in line with protocol, defined Suk Chul-gi, the CEO of Korea Kacoh, on the telephone with the Hankyoreh.

Suk rejected what he referred to as “ridiculous” suspicions a couple of rushed schedule or reduce prices.

“We wish to know the reason for the accident greater than anyone. No person would knowingly jeopardize their life [on the job],” he stated.

As of 8 pm on Wednesday, 5 of the seven our bodies underneath the collapsed boiler tower had been recovered, leaving two folks nonetheless buried underneath the rubble.

Two employees who narrowly managed to flee the collapse have been rescued.

By Joo Seong-mi, workers reporter; Kim Gyu-hyun, workers reporter

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