Ulsan power plant tower collapse accident... Search continues = South Korea

The collapse of the boiler tower at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant, headquartered at Korea East-West Power Company and Ulsan Power Generation Co., Ltd. in Nam-gu, Ulsan, South Korea, on the afternoon of November 6th, was caused by a "weakening" operation that was being carried out prior to the removal work.
An Ulsan Southern Fire Department official said at the first on-site briefing that the accident occurred on the 60-meter-tall boiler towers 4, 5, and 6, 7, 8, and 9 inside the power plant.
The No. 5 boiler tower, which was completed in 1981, uses steam generated from heavy fuel oil (bunker C oil) to turn turbines.
The facility is a power generating facility. It has been out of use since 2021, and weakening work has been underway since October in preparation for its removal. The "weakening work" is a work to make it easier to remove the facility.
This refers to the work of cutting off part of the structure in advance. At the first briefing, a Southern Fire Department official said that two of the nine employees buried in the collapsed area were rescued at the scene, and two more were rescued.
The remaining five workers are still being searched for. All of the buried workers belonged to Koreakako, a company that handles the demolition of buildings and structures, and one of them was a full-time employee.
The eight were reportedly working as contract employees. The construction company for the project was HJ Heavy Industries, and the demolition work was carried out by its partner company, Koreakako.
Fire departments are carrying out rescue operations, but if the buried victim is located at the bottom of a structure, the collapsed structure must first be removed and the search can begin.
There are concerns that it may take a long time to secure the site. Fire department officials are planning to deploy a 700-ton crane and two more 500-ton cranes to contain the accident.
The National Fire and Disaster Management Agency issued a "National Fire Mobilization Order." The Presidential Office said on the 6th, "President Lee Jae-myung received a report on the Ulsan collapse accident and ordered the deployment of equipment for the containment of the accident, especially for the rescue of lives."
The Ministry of Employment and Labor also launched a central accident response headquarters, while Ulsan city and Ulsan Nam-gu also set up local disaster safety response headquarters.
The plan is to support the fire department's rescue and emergency operations at the scene.