SEOUL (Reuters) – An explosion occurred at Lotte Chemical’s plant in the southwestern city of Seosan in South Korea, injuring more than 20 people, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday.
The explosion, which began at Lotte Chemical’s naphtha cracker at around 3 a.m. local time (1800 GMT), has been contained and is under control, Yonhap reported, citing fire officials.
A Lotte Chemical spokesman said the company is looking into the cause of the accident and exact damage but it was not immediately clear whether its operations would be suspended due to the blast.
Lotte Chemical runs two naphtha crackers in South Korea. One cracker is located in Daesan county in Seosan which can produce 1.1 million tonnes per year of ethylene with the other 1.2 million tonnes per year cracker in the southwestern city of Yeosu.
(Reporting By Jane Chung; Editing by Chris Reese)
