On the afternoon of the 6th, a boiler tower at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant collapsed during preparatory work for demolition. Of the nine workers on site, two were rescued and taken to a hospital, and two are being rescued. Five have not yet been found and are buried. All the workers belong to "Korea Kako," a subcontractor hired by HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Co., the prime contractor.
According to fire authorities, at about 2:02 p.m. on the 6th, a boiler tower collapsed at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant of Korea East-West Power Co. (EWP) in Yongjam-dong, Nam District, Ulsan.
Responding to a report, fire authorities rescued two people who were not buried, a man in his 60s and a man in his 40s. They sustained serious injuries and were transported to a hospital, but their lives are not in danger, according to reports. Kim Jeong-sik, head of the Fire Prevention and Safety Division at Ulsan Nambu Fire Station, said at a briefing at the scene, "Their consciousness and breathing are all clear."
Seven workers were buried in the collapse. Fire authorities conducted rescue operations and found two people wedged between the collapsed structures, and as of 6 p.m., rescue work was underway. In addition, five people are buried under the collapsed structure. The five people's conditions or the exact burial locations have not been confirmed.
Construction on the collapsed boiler tower began in 1979 and was completed in 1981. It is a facility that burns Bunker C oil to boil water and uses the steam to turn a turbine to generate electricity. Due to aging, operations were halted in 2021. It is 61 meters tall, and the accident occurred at the 25-meter point.
According to fire authorities and Korea East-West Power Co. (EWP), identical boiler towers No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 stand at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant. All had been taken offline. Korea East-West Power decided to dismantle the three boiler towers and entrusted the demolition work to HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Co. The demolition was to be carried out by installing explosives and blasting them to bring the towers down. HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Co. then subcontracted the blasting work to Korea Kako, a blasting specialist.
All nine people who were injured while working at the site that day belong to Korea Kako. One is a full-time employee, and eight are contract workers. They were performing "weakening" work, cutting columns at intervals so that the steel boiler tower would collapse properly during blasting. Unit No. 4 had completed this work, and the accident occurred while working on Unit No. 5. Unit No. 6 was scheduled to follow. The blasting date is the 16th of this month.
Fire authorities explained that if the five buried workers are found under the collapsed structure, the rescue could be relatively quick; otherwise, crews will have to cut and lift the upper structure, which will take a long time. One 700-ton crane and two 500-ton cranes have been deployed for the rescue.
The National Fire Agency issued a national fire mobilization order and is conducting rescue operations by deploying personnel from the Special Response Units of the adjacent Busan, Daegu and North Gyeongsang fire headquarters and from the National 119 Rescue Headquarters. Rescue dogs and drones are also scheduled to be deployed.