A scaffolding collapse at the nation’s biggest thermal power plant caused one death on Tuesday morning.

Thirteen workers fell from a height of about 10 meters when a scaffold set up to assist their maintenance work inside a Boryeong thermal power plant broke down.

Ten workers escaped or were rescued by 119 rescue workers right after the accident, and several hours later, three more were rescued, according to a local news report. One worker was reported to have died during treatment at a hospital.

According to officials, the workers were doing maintenance work on a boiler in the Unit 5 at the plant.

The accident came two weeks after a fire broke out at the plant in the basement of Unit 1, which halted its operation. The fire was put out after 11 hours.

The Boryeong power plant in South Chungcheong Province has six units, which supply 8 percent of the nation’s electricity.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)