An explosion at a Hanwha Aerospace fuel processing plant in Daejeon, South Korea, has left five people dead and two others seriously injured. The cause of the massive explosion and the subsequent fire at the plant is still unknown, although, according to a Hanwha official speaking at a company briefing (via Reuters), the explosion appears to have occurred whilst water was being used to clean explosive material from the tools used to manufacture rocket propellant.
Due to the nature of the company's operations, which involve the production of rocket fuel, fire-fighting efforts and the search of the facility for further potential victims are being hampered, as the site plans are protected under the National Security Act, given that Hanwha Aerospace is a subcontractor to the Ministry of Defence and Aerospace.
The country's president, Lee Jae Myung, has called for the mobilisation of all available resources to respond to the accident and for an investigation to be carried out, a move which the company's director, Son Jae-il, fully supported, whilst sending his condolences to the families. According to a health department official, "the authorities have not yet identified the victims because their bodies were severely damaged."