South Korea: Boiler tower collapse claims at least three lives PHOTO

As many as three workers have died and two others are presumed dead after being discovered under a collapsed boiler tower at a thermal power plant in southeastern Ulsan, South Korea, on November 7, with two more still unaccounted for, firefighting officials said.

The boiler tower, located at a plant operated by the Ulsan branch of Korea East-West Power Co., a state-run utility, collapsed the previous day during dismantling operations, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Two workers were pronounced dead after being pulled from the rubble, raising the death toll to three. One person had been declared dead earlier while trapped, officials said. Operations to recover another two workers are ongoing, though both are feared dead. The exact locations of the remaining two were still unknown.

Initially, nine workers had been reported trapped, but two were rescued early on.

One of the deceased was identified as a 44-year-old. He was pronounced dead around 5 a.m. after going into cardiac arrest while rescue workers tried to pull him out, Kim Jeong-sik, an official at the Ulsan Nambu fire station, told reporters.

"A rescue worker injected him with painkillers and took measures to keep him warm, but he eventually passed away," Kim said.

Firefighters had to work through approximately 30 meters of steel and debris to reach the site of the collapse.

The tower was 60 meters tall and reportedly in the process of being dismantled using explosives. The trapped individuals were all presumed to be employees of a subcontractor.

By Aghakazim Guliyev