A 60-metre (196-foot) tower collapsed during demolition work at a decommissioned thermal power plant in the South Korean city of Ulsan, killing three people and leaving at least two others presumed dead, officials said on Friday.
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Five people remain trapped under the rubble, including two whom officials have yet to locate.
Nine people were working at the site when the boiler tower collapsed on Thursday afternoon. Rescuers pulled two to safety shortly after responding, but another worker rescued later was pronounced dead at a hospital early on Friday.
Hours later, they pulled out another worker who was pronounced dead, and a doctor at the site confirmed the death of another worker who was among three people in the rubble. Fire officials believe the other two are also dead, according to Kim Jeong-shik, an official with Ulsan’s fire department.
The search was temporarily halted on Friday morning due to concerns over unstable rubble, and officials postponed planned stabilisation work before resuming the search after spotting additional workers.
More than 340 rescuers and dozens of vehicles had been deployed to the site for search and rescue efforts, along with search dogs, thermal cameras, endoscopes and other detection equipment, Kim said.
“The rescue site is currently covered with large amounts of asbestos and glass fibres … and the space is extremely cramped, forcing rescuers to manually clear the debris by hand to carry out the rescue operations,” Kim said in a briefing.