Officials say 14 were killed in fire at South Korean auto parts plant

Black smoke rises from an auto parts plant in Daejeon, South Korea, Friday, March 20, 2026. (Kim June-beom/Yonhap via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean rescue workers on Saturday recovered the remains of 14 people from the charred wreckage of an auto parts factory in the central city of Daejeon, where an explosion and fire injured at least 59 others.

Fire officials said 25 people were seriously injured but it wasn’t immediately clear whether any were in life-threatening condition. More than 500 firefighters, police and emergency personnel were deployed to contain the fire and conduct rescue operations after it broke out Friday afternoon.

Videos and photos from the scene showed thick gray smoke billowing from the complex and some workers jumping from a building belonging to Anjun Industrial.

Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok district, said the blaze destroyed a factory building that firefighters initially could not enter over fears it might collapse. Searches for the missing workers began late Friday after officials deployed unmanned firefighting robots to cool the structure and conducted a safety inspection.

Nine of the 14 dead were discovered in what is believed to have been a gym on the third floor, while three were found near a water tank on the second floor. All the missing have now been accounted for.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited the site Saturday afternoon, meeting with relatives of the victims and calling for safety measures to prevent the damaged structure from collapsing during search operations.

The fire was reported at about 1:18 p.m. Friday. Nam said the cause was not immediately known, but the blaze appeared to have spread rapidly, with witnesses reporting an explosion. Firefighters focused on preventing the blaze from spreading to an adjacent facility and isolating explosive chemicals. Nam said workers recovered more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of highly reactive chemicals from the site.

Some people were injured when they jumped from the building to escape, while others suffered smoke inhalation, officials said. As of Saturday morning, 28 people were hospitalized and four of them underwent surgeries for broken bones and other injuries.

About 120 vehicles and pieces of equipment, including aircraft, an unmanned water cannon vehicle and two firefighting robots for hard-to-reach areas, were deployed, along with hundreds of personnel.

Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press