Search for missing resumes after 2 towers blown up at Ulsan power plant
1 of 2 | Officials inspect the site of a collapsed boiler tower at a thermal power plant in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Tuesday before resuming their search for missing workers. Photo by Yonhap News
The search for four workers trapped under a collapsed boiler tower in the southeastern city of Ulsan resumed Tuesday after two other towers were demolished to ensure the safety of rescue personnel.
Around 70 search and rescue experts will be mobilized for the effort, which was suspended Sunday amid concerns the two towers flanking the collapsed structure could also crumble, firefighting authorities said.
At noon, the two — Towers 4 and 6 — were blown up, clearing the way for rescue personnel to dig through the debris of Tower 5 at a thermal power plant belonging to the Ulsan branch of Korea East-West Power Co., a state-run utility company.
Tower 5 collapsed last Thursday, trapping seven workers, including three whose bodies have been recovered. Two have been located but are feared dead, while another two remain missing.
Two cutting machines were being used to reach the two that have been spotted within 5 meters of the entrance to the debris, officials said.
The search for the missing two will begin from where the other two workers have been located.
Each tower was 63 meters tall.
At the time of its collapse, Tower 5 had been in the process of being demolished after 40 years of use ending in 2021.
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