Firefighters battle a fire at a waste disposal company in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, on Friday, in this photo provided by the Gyeonggi Province fire department. (Yonhap)
HWASEONG -- One worker died Friday in a fire at waste oil recycling facility in Hwaseong, a satellite city of Seoul.
The blaze broke out at the company, named TopEco, in the city, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, at 11:12 a.m. The 55-year-old employee of the company's subcontractor was found dead at the scene at 2:35 p.m.
The fire reportedly started with an explosion at a storage tank at the company, which produces renewable fuel oil from waste oil.
Eleven people were reportedly working near the tank. Initially, it was reported that all of them evacuated, but one person was later confirmed to be missing, firefighters said.
More than 100 firefighters and around 60 pieces of equipment, including four helicopters, were deployed to combat the fire.
The fire caused damage to TopEco's two buildings and four adjacent buildings of other companies, they said.
The structure ablaze was primarily composed of sandwich panels, resulting in the emission of significant amounts of black smoke. (Yonhap)
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