纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英韩国锂电池工厂火灾18名中国劳工遇难

June 25, 2024 4 min 746 words

这篇报道主要内容是关于韩国一家锂电池工厂发生火灾，造成22名工人死亡，其中18名为中国劳工。评论如下：首先，我们对火灾中遇难的工人表示哀悼，并对他们的家人表示慰问。火灾发生后，韩国官方第一时间展开救援和调查工作，我们希望韩国政府能够妥善处理善后事宜，并做好消防安全措施，避免类似事件再次发生。其次，从报道来看，纽约时报中文网试图将这一悲剧简单地归咎于韩国对移民工人工作环境的监管不力，以及韩国工厂对消防安全的重视程度不足。然而，我们也应该注意到，报道中提及的Aricell工厂是世界领先的锂电池制造商之一，其生产的电池被广泛应用于电力和公用事业网络。锂电池的生产和储存具有很高的技术要求，需要严格的安全措施。因此，我们不能忽视火灾可能是由于电池本身的质量问题或生产过程中的技术故障所引发的可能性。另外，报道中提及的韩国近年来的几起重大火灾，也反映出韩国在消防安全和应急管理方面存在一定的问题和漏洞。最后，我们希望西方媒体在报道此类事件时，能够客观公正，避免过度炒作和渲染，尊重遇难者及其家人，并避免对中韩关系造成不必要的负面影响。同时，我们也呼吁中国政府加强对海外劳工权利的保护，确保中国工人在海外工作时的安全和合法权益。

韩国华城工厂发生的火灾是该国近年来最严重的火灾之一。 Newsis, via Associated Press

A fire at a lithium battery factory near Seoul on Monday killed 22 workers, most of them migrant laborers from China, in one of the deadliest blazes in South Korea in years, officials said.

首尔附近一家锂电池工厂周一发生火灾，官方表示，火灾造成22名工人死亡，其中大多数是中国劳工，这是韩国近年来死亡人数最多的火灾之一。

Officials said that rescuers were still searching the building in Hwaseong, 28 miles south of Seoul, for one worker who had been reported missing. They said it was unclear whether the worker was in the building when the fire broke out.

官员们说，救援人员仍在首尔以南45公里的华城寻找一名据报失踪的工人。他们说，目前还不清楚火灾发生时这名工人是否在大楼内。

Two workers were hospitalized with serious injuries. Six others suffered minor injuries.

两名工人因重伤被送往医院治疗，另有六人受轻伤。

Kim Jin-young, an official with the Hwaseong Fire Department, said 102 people had been working in the factory, owned by the battery maker Aricell, when the fire broke out. The 22 victims included 18 migrants from China and one from Laos, as well as two South Koreans.

华城消防部门官员金振永（音）表示，火灾发生时，工厂里共有102人在工作，该厂为锂电池制造商Aricell所有。22名遇难者当中包括18名中国劳工和一名老挝劳工，还有两名韩国人。

They were found dead on the 12,500-square foot second floor of the factory. The floor had two unlocked exit staircases leading outside, but the workers appeared to have been overcome by the flames and toxic smoke before reaching them, Mr. Kim said.

遇难者死在工厂的二楼。这一层面积有1161平方米，有两个没有上锁的安全出口楼梯通向室外，但金振永表示，工人们在到达安全出口前就已经被火焰和有毒的烟雾吞噬。

It took only 15 seconds for the floor to be filled with smoke and flames, said a senior fire official, Jo Seon-ho, during a news briefing Monday.

高级消防官员赵善浩（音）在周一的新闻发布会上表示，仅15秒钟，楼层就被浓烟和火焰包围。

After trying in vain to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers, he said, the workers rushed to an area of the floor where there was no exit.

他说，在试图用灭火器灭火无果后，工人们冲到了楼层一个没有出口的区域。

The dead migrant workers were temporary hires who were likely unfamiliar with the structure of the building, he said. “The smoke was so toxic you could lose your consciousness after taking one or two breaths,” Mr. Jo said.

他说，死亡的劳工都是临时工，他们很可能不熟悉大楼的结构。他还表示，“烟雾的毒性很强，吸入一两口就会失去知觉。”

Chinese, including ethnic Koreans, are the biggest group of migrant workers in South Korea. Of 523,000 foreigners visiting South Korea on temporary work visas according to government data released late last year, more than 100,000 were from China.

包括朝鲜族人在内的中国人是韩国最大的外来务工群体。根据政府去年底公布的数据，在持临时工作签证访问韩国的52.3万名外国人中，有逾10万人来自中国。

Separately, hundreds of thousands of Korean Chinese are working in South Korea on special longer-term work visas that the country grants to ethnic Koreans living abroad.

另外，成千上万的朝鲜族中国人持有特殊的长期工作签证，这种签证是韩国向居住在国外的朝鲜族人发放的。

After suffering low birthrates for decades, South Korea has become increasingly dependent on migrant workers to fill jobs shunned by locals. Many farms and small factories in industrial towns like Hwaseong could not operate without such migrant workers.

在经历了数十年的低出生率之后，韩国越来越依赖外来务工人员填补本国人不愿从事的工作。没有这些外来务工人员，华城等工业城市的许多农场和小型工厂就无法运转。

Workers who fled the fire said it started when a single battery cell caught fire, triggering a series of explosions among some of the 35,000 lithium battery cells stored on the factory’s second floor, according to Mr. Kim.

金振永表示，成功逃生的工人说，火灾是由一块电池起火引起的，工厂二楼存放着3.5万块锂电池，火灾引发部分电池出现一系列爆炸。

Fires can occur in lithium batteries when the inside layers are compressed, causing a short circuit. The layers can become compressed by a sudden impact, such as during a vehicle collision, or by gradual swelling of the batteries through regular use.

当锂电池内层受到挤压时就会导致短路起火。由于突然的撞击，例如在车辆发生碰撞的时候，或者由于电池在日常使用中逐渐膨胀，内层都可能受到挤压。

Lithium is a metal that can store large amounts of energy in a small space, which is why it is attractive as a battery material. But that also means there is much energy available to turn into heat and even flames in case of a short circuit. Lithium battery fires have been a growing problem in the United States and elsewhere, and fires are an industrywide concern for battery manufacturers.

锂是一种可以用小体积储存大量能量的金属，这就是为什么它作为电池材料备受青睐。但这也意味着在短路的情况下，有很多能量可以转化为热量甚至火焰。在包括美国的许多地方，锂电池引发的火灾已经成为一个日益严重的问题，起火一直是电池制造商普遍关注的问题。

Aricell, the Hwaseong plant’s owner, makes batteries that are often used to run electricity and other utilities networks.

这间华城工厂的所有者Aricell生产的电池通常用于电力和其他公用事业网络。

Intense flames, toxic smoke and the risk of further explosions hampered firefighters’ efforts to search for the missing workers on Monday. Television footage from the fire showed large flames and thick clouds of smoke billowing from the factory. Footage taken after the fire had been extinguished showed the building scorched, with its roof caved in.

周一，大火、毒烟和进一步爆炸的可能性阻碍了消防员对失踪工人的搜寻。来自火灾现场的电视画面显示，大火和浓烟从工厂滚滚而出。大火扑灭后拍摄的画面显示，建筑被烧毁，屋顶塌陷。

More than 160 firefighters, along with 60 fire engines, rushed to contain the fire. President Yoon Suk Yeol called on his government to “mobilize all available human resources and equipment.”

160多名消防员和60辆消防车赶赴现场灭火。尹锡悦总统要求政府“调动所有可用的人力资源和设备”。

The blaze was the deadliest in South Korea since a fire at a construction site southeast of Seoul killed 38 people in 2020.

这是自2020年首尔东南部一处建筑工地起火造成38人死亡以来，韩国死亡人数最多的火灾。

Though South Korea is known for its cutting-edge technology and manufacturing, the country has long been plagued by man-made disasters, including fires.

尽管以尖端技术和制造业闻名，韩国长期以来一直受到包括火灾在内的人祸的困扰。

In 2018, nearly 50 people, most of them elderly patients, died inhaling toxic smoke in a fire at a hospital that lacked sprinklers. In 2017, 29 people were killed in a fire at a gym and public bath complex. In 2008, 40 workers, including migrant workers, died in a fire at a cold-storage warehouse under construction.

2018年，一家缺乏自动喷水灭火装置的医院发生火灾，近50人因吸入有毒烟雾死亡，其中大部分是老年患者。2017年，一家健身中心和公共浴室发生火灾，导致29人丧生。2008年，一座在建冷库发生火灾，包括外来劳工在内的40人丧生。