5th body recovered at Ulsan power plant

Rescue workers carry a recovered victim out of the collapsed Thermal Power Plant site in Ulsan, Wednesday. Courtesy of the National Fire Agency

A fifth body was recovered from under a collapsed boiler tower at a thermal power plant in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Wednesday, leaving two workers still trapped, firefighting authorities said.

The body belonged to one of two workers who could not be located in the rubble of the 63-meter tower that collapsed last Thursday.

The discovery came after authorities blew up two other boiler towers near the debris Tuesday to help speed up the search and rescue efforts.

Towers 4 and 6, which flanked Tower 5 that collapsed, had been an impediment in the search efforts due to fears they too could crumble.

A total of seven workers were initially trapped under the rubble, and Wednesday's discovery raises the confirmed death toll to five.

Of the two missing, one worker has been located but is presumed dead, while the other has yet to be found.

The plant is operated by the Korea East-West Power Co., a state-run utility. At the time of its collapse, Tower 5 had been in the process of being demolished after 40 years of use ending in 2021.