Seoul, June 24: A fire at a lithium battery manufacturing factory near South Korea's capital on Monday left at least nine people dead, four injured and 15 others missing, officials said. The fire at the factory in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul, was initially found to have killed one person and injured four others, two of them critically.

Rescue workers later retrieved eight additional bodies from the factory, increasing the death toll to nine, local fire official Kim Jin-young told a televised briefing. Kim earlier said most of the missing people were foreign nationals including Chinese. South Korea Fire Video: 20 Dead in Massive Blaze at Lithium Battery Plant in Hwaseong, Efforts to Douse Flame Underway.

Blaze Erupts at Lithium Battery Factory in South Korea

He said the mobile phone signals of the missing people were tracked to be coming from the second floor of the factory. South Korean media reported that much of the blaze were put out. The exact cause of the fire wasn't immediately known. Kim said a total of 102 people were working at the factory before the fire occurred.