Families mourn loved ones, survivors traumatized after boiler tower collapse in Ulsan
Published: 10 Nov. 2025, 09:58
![Demolition equipment is being set up at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan for Boiler Towers 4 and 6 in order to continue the rescue operations at the collapsed Boiler Tower Unit 5 on Nov. 9. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/10/8f0722d1-ab14-466a-95e2-57c017d9376a.jpg)
Demolition equipment is being set up at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan for Boiler Towers 4 and 6 in order to continue the rescue operations at the collapsed Boiler Tower Unit 5 on Nov. 9. [YONHAP]
ULSAN — On Saturday afternoon, a man in his 40s stood anxiously outside a hospital in Ulsan, wearing a neck brace and a hospital gown. Despite the rain, he paced around the flower bed in front of the building, visibly struggling to move without assistance from family members. He could not bring himself to go back inside.
“He keeps coming out because he’s scared the ceiling might collapse if he stays in the hospital room,” said a family member.
The man was one of the workers who narrowly survived the boiler tower collapse at Ulsan Thermal Power Plant on Nov. 6.
The trauma of the incident had left him unable to speak properly as of Sunday, according to his family. During brief conversations with relatives and friends, he sighed repeatedly and rubbed his face in distress. One friend recalled, “I kept calling his name and holding his hand, but he didn’t recognize me at first. Then after a few more times, he suddenly did. It felt like divine intervention.”
“I can’t even talk about it — just thinking about it makes me too anxious and scared,” he told a reporter outside the hospital.
Three days after the collapse, the pain was still raw — not only for the survivors, but for the families of those who did not make it out.
![A funeral takes place for Jeon, a worker who was found dead at the collapsed boiler tower of the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan, on Nov. 8. [KIM CHANG-YONG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/10/a4432e29-d8b9-4055-8c15-9582e212ae75.jpg)
A funeral takes place for Jeon, a worker who was found dead at the collapsed boiler tower of the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan, on Nov. 8. [KIM CHANG-YONG]
'What do I do now?'
At a funeral hall in another hospital in Ulsan, the wife of a 44-year-old man who died in the accident sobbed as she stood beside his body. “What do I do now?” she cried. The parents of the man, surnamed Kim, asked their daughter-in-law in trembling voices, “Were his eyes closed?”
Kim’s father, in his 70s, told reporters, “He grew up in difficult circumstances, but he studied on his own, earned scholarships and made it to college.” He paused, overwhelmed. “We just kept waiting, hoping he would be rescued. They tried resuscitating him, but then we were notified that he didn’t make it.”
Kim, who had two young daughters, was found dead on Sunday — three days after he was trapped in the boiler tower collapse. When rescuers first located him on the day of the accident, he was still alive. But with concerns about further collapse, rescue operations slowed. He died at the site the next day.
![Officials look for survivors during a rescue operation at the collapsed boiler tower of the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan on Nov. 7. [NATIONAL FIRE AGENCY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/10/7b51a29b-103c-4394-96e8-b8c857d4651f.jpg)
Officials look for survivors during a rescue operation at the collapsed boiler tower of the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Ulsan on Nov. 7. [NATIONAL FIRE AGENCY]
Hard-working breadwinners lost
A funeral was also held for a 49-year-old man, surnamed Jeon, at a different hospital in Ulsan on Saturday. His widow could not stop crying, her eyes and cheeks visibly swollen. Jeon’s father, despite having difficulty walking, stayed at the mourning altar until late at night. Relatives gathered nearby, quietly sharing drinks with heavy sighs.
One relative said, “No matter how hard things were financially, he never raised his voice or even got annoyed.”
Jeon had lived a life of relentless work — so much so that he and his wife had never held a wedding ceremony, only registering their marriage before diving into jobs. The couple once ran a butcher shop in Seoul, but after it closed, they moved to Geoje in South Gyeongsang. Jeon began working at a shipyard and more recently took on day labor jobs at construction sites. He was hired for demolition work on the boiler tower when the accident occurred.
When Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Democratic Party lawmakers visited the funeral home on Saturday, Jeon’s family pleaded, “Please help us get justice for our son.”
“The government will take full responsibility and continue with rescue efforts and support,” Kim said. “We will also carefully implement policy changes and site-level safety management systems so that this kind of accident never happens again.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM CHANG-YONG, KIM MIN-JU, AN DAE-HUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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