Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility pay tribute at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility pay tribute at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)

Bereaved family members, friends and colleagues of victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility gathered at joint memorial altars on Thursday morning to mourn the loss of their loved ones.

Hanwha Aerospace, the defense affiliate of Hanwha Group, has established joint memorial altars across 10 of its business sites nationwide to honor those killed in the explosion, including one at the Yuseong District Office near its Daejeon facility.

Other locations include the company's headquarters building in Janggyo-dong, Seoul, as well as production and R&D facilities in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province; Asan, South Chungcheong Province; Daejeon; and Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province.

The explosion at the Daejeon facility on Monday killed five people and injured two others. Police have launched a joint investigation to determine the exact cause of the accident.

Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility mourn before the portraits of their loved ones at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility mourn before the portraits of their loved ones at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
A bereaved family member pays tribute to a victim of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
A bereaved family member pays tribute to a victim of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon facility at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)

The altars will remain open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through June 25.

"We express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. The memorial spaces were established as a place for all employees to come together in remembrance and pray for those who lost their lives," a company official said.

The company has suspended operations at its nine business sites for two days beginning Thursday, marking its first companywide production shutdown since it was founded in 1977.

Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon facility embrace one another after paying their respects at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
Bereaved family members of the victims of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon facility embrace one another after paying their respects at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday. (Yonhap)
A bereaved family member of a victim of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon facility cries out in grief at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday (Yonhap)
A bereaved family member of a victim of the explosion at Hanwha Aerospace’s Daejeon facility cries out in grief at a joint memorial altar set up at the Yuseong District Office in Daejeon on Friday (Yonhap)

cjh@heraldcorp.com