At the site of the explosion at the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant that left seven casualties, police and other authorities launched a joint forensic inspection.
The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, fire authorities, the National Forensic Service, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency began a joint forensic inspection at the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, from 10 a.m. on the 2nd.
At about 10:59 a.m. on the 1st, an explosion occurred in the washing room of Building 56 at the Daejeon plant, killing five workers and injuring two. Hanwha Aerospace said the work involved washing explosives off a tool used to make a propellant.
Police plan to assess the risk of collapse at the explosion site and focus their investigation on the presumed ignition point. A Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency official said, "The risk of collapse does not appear to be high at this time."
Bereaved families are also taking part in the joint forensic inspection. Earlier, to identify the deceased, police asked the National Forensic Service to conduct DNA analysis comparing the bereaved families and the deceased. An autopsy is also scheduled for the afternoon.
Yu Seung-sik, head of the forensic investigation division at the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, said, "Given the high number of victims, we will conduct the inspection as quickly and transparently as possible based on objective evidence."