박철성 기자 〈리서치센터 국장·칼럼니스트〉
■ 꺼내기도 전 ‘사망자’였다… 잠수함 화재 33시간, 뒤집힌 순서
■ 의학적 확인 전 ‘사망 공시’… HD현대중공업 중대재해 보고 논란
■ 또 하청이 죽었다… 울산 홍범도함 화재가 남긴 구조
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▲문은 열려 있었지만 길은 없었다. 그 33시간의 끝은 구조가 아니라 수습이었다. 사진=SBS 캡처
또 하청이 죽었다. 이번엔 해군 잠수함 안이었다.
문제는 그를 두 번 죽였다는 점이다.
의학적 사망 확인 이전이었다. 그런데 먼저 사망자로 공시됐다.
60대 협력업체 여성 A씨는 불길에서 한 번, 행정에서 또 한 번 죽었다.
4월 9일 오후 1시 58분. 울산 동구 HD현대중공업 울산조선소. 해군 214급 잠수함 홍범도함 내부에서 불이 났다. 47명이 있었다. 46명은 빠져나왔다. 한 명이 남았다. 협력업체 소속 60대 여성 A씨였다. 그는 잠수함 안에서 청소 작업을 하고 있었다.
33시간 뒤, A씨는 주검으로 나왔다.
■ 군 잠수함 창정비 현장, 청소는 하청 몫
홍범도함은 1800톤급 잠수함이다. 길이 65.3m, 폭 6.3m. 연료전지 체계를 갖춘 전략 자산이다. 2018년 해군에 인도됐다.
이 잠수함은 지난해 6월부터 창정비에 들어갔다. 선체와 장비를 전면 분해·점검하는 작업이다.
그 현장에 A씨가 있었다.
고위험·밀폐 공간의 가장 아래 작업은 하청의 몫이었다.
■ 46명은 나왔고, 1명은 남았다
화재 직후 연기가 퍼졌다. 47명 중 46명은 대피했다. A씨만 빠져나오지 못했다.
오후 3시 56분 진화 완료.
오후 4시 38분 발견.
하지만 발견은 구조가 아니었다.
성인 한 명이 겨우 통과하는 통로. 전선과 배관이 얽힌 밀폐 공간. 장비는 들어가지 못했다.
여기에 재폭발이 겹쳤다. 진화 과정에서 유입된 물이 전기설비와 반응하며 스파크가 반복됐다.
구조는 멈췄다. 열을 빼고, 내부를 건조시키고, 배터리 위험을 제거한 뒤에야 접근이 가능했다.
그 사이 시간이 흘렀다.
33시간.
■ 불씨는 배터리룸에서 시작됐나
화재 원인은 아직 확정되지 않았다.
다만 배터리룸 인근에서 불꽃이 튀었다는 진술이 이어지고 있다.
고용량 배터리가 밀집된 밀폐 공간.
화재와 진화 과정에서 재폭발이 반복되는 구조다.
이번 사고가 그 전형을 따랐다.
■ 의학적 확인 전 ‘사망 공시’ — 뒤집힌 순서
이번 사고의 또 다른 문제는 절차다.
기업은 중대재해 발생 시 즉시 보고해야 한다.
HD현대중공업은 사고 당일 A씨를 부상자로 공시했다가, 다음 날 사망자 1명으로 정정했다.
문제는 시점이다.
의학적 사망 확인 이전이었다.
공시의 근거는 고용노동부 울산지청이었다.
현장 구조대로부터 ‘사망 추정’ 보고를 받아 중대재해 보고가 이뤄졌고, 이를 바탕으로 공시가 수정됐다.
생존 여부가 최종 확인되기 전, 행정 판단이 먼저 내려진 셈이다.
빠른 초동 대응이라는 설명은 가능하다.
그러나 생사 확인 이전에 내려진 ‘사망’ 판단이
얼마나 정밀했는지는 별개의 문제다.
■ 또 하청이 죽었다 — 반복되는 구조
밀폐 공간.
대피 실패.
하청 노동자.
이 구조는 반복되고 있다.
왜 46명은 빠져나왔고, 한 명은 남았는가.
비상 동선은 설계돼 있었는가.
하청 인력에게 동일한 안전 기준이 적용됐는가.
이 지점에서 떠오르는 말이 있다.
이재명 대통령이 반복해 강조해온 말이다.
재난과 사고는
반복되는 순간
개별 실패가 아니라
구조의 문제다.
이번 사건은
그 문장의 현재형이다.
수사는 이 질문으로 향한다.
경찰은 업무상 과실치사 혐의를 수사 중이다.
고용노동부는 중대재해처벌법 위반 여부를 조사할 방침이다.
재발 방지 대책도 나왔다.
그러나 이 문장은 익숙하다.
그리고 결과도 같다.
또 하청이 죽었다.
■ 그는 불길 속에서 버텼다
33시간이었다.
그런데
밖에서는
이미 죽어 있었다.
아래는 위 기사를 구글 번역을 통해 영문으로 옮긴 전문입니다. 이해를 돕기 위한 참고용 번역으로, 일부 표현에는 원문의 뉘앙스와 차이가 있을 수 있습니다.
The following is a reference translation generated for reader convenience. Some nuances may differ from the original Korean text.
■ She Was Already 'Dead' Before They Got Her Out… The 33-Hour Submarine Fire and the Order That Was Reversed
■ 'Death Declared' Before Medical Confirmation… HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Under Fire Over Serious Accident Reporting
■ Another Subcontractor Dead… The Structure That the Ulsan Hongbeomdo Fire Left Behind
By Park Cheol-seong, Veteran Journalist / 〈Director of the Research Center · Columnist〉
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▲ ©호주브레이크뉴스 |
▲ The door was open, but there was no way in. After 33 hours, what came out was not a rescue — it was a recovery. Photo=SBS capture
Another subcontractor worker is dead. This time, it was inside a naval submarine.
The deeper problem is that she was killed twice.
Medical confirmation had not yet been made. Yet she was already declared dead in an official report. A woman in her 60s, employed by a subcontractor, died once in the flames — and once more on paper.
At 1:58 p.m. on April 9. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan Shipyard, Dong-gu, Ulsan. A fire broke out inside the Navy's Type-214 submarine Hongbeomdo. There were 47 people. 46 made it out. One did not. She was a woman in her 60s, employed by a subcontractor — Worker A. She had been cleaning inside the submarine.
33 hours later, she was brought out as a body.
■ At a Naval Submarine Overhaul Site, Cleaning Was Subcontractor Work
The Hongbeomdo is a 1,800-ton submarine of the Republic of Korea Navy. Length 65.3m, beam 6.3m. A strategic asset equipped with a fuel cell propulsion system capable of operating submerged for more than 10 days — considered among the finest diesel submarines in the world. It was built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered to the Navy in 2018.
The submarine entered comprehensive overhaul last June. The process involves a full disassembly, inspection, and restoration of the vessel and its systems.
Worker A was in that space.
The dirtiest work in the most dangerous, confined spaces — that was the subcontractor's share.
■ 46 Came Out. One Did Not.
Smoke spread immediately after the fire broke out. Of the 47 workers on site, 46 evacuated. Worker A could not get out.
3:56 p.m. — Fire extinguished.
4:38 p.m. — Worker A located.
But being found was not the same as being rescued.
The passage leading to her was narrow enough that a single adult could barely squeeze through. Cables, pipes, and equipment packed the confined space. No machinery could enter.
Then came the re-explosions. Water used to fight the fire had seeped into the electrical systems, triggering repeated sparks and blasts. More explosions occurred during interior drying operations just after midnight. At 1:30 a.m., embers were found again inside the circuit breaker room. A company official in his 50s, involved in the rescue effort, suffered burns and was taken to hospital.
Rescue teams deployed heat blowers to dry the interior, then brought in specialists to dismantle the high-capacity battery systems. Only after eliminating the secondary explosion risk could they approach her.
Time passed in the meantime.
33 hours.
At 11:18 a.m. on April 11 — 33 hours after the fire began — Worker A's body was finally recovered.
■ Did the Fire Start in the Battery Room?
The cause of the fire has not been officially confirmed.
However, witness accounts are consistent: sparks were seen coming from the battery room just before the blaze broke out.
A sealed space packed with high-capacity batteries. When fire breaks out and extinguishing water contacts electrical systems, short circuits and re-explosions follow in sequence.
This accident followed that pattern precisely.
■ 'Death Declared' Before Medical Confirmation — The Order Was Reversed
The other problem this accident revealed is procedural.
Companies are legally required to report serious industrial accidents immediately to the Ministry of Employment and Labor. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries initially reported Worker A as injured on the day of the accident — then issued a corrected report the following day classifying her as deceased.
The problem is the timing.
Medical confirmation of death had not yet been made.
The basis for the declaration came from the Ulsan Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The branch received a field report from rescue teams estimating Worker A had died, and on that basis filed a serious accident report to the ministry's headquarters — which then became the grounds for the company's corrected disclosure.
An administrative determination of death was made before survival could be finally confirmed.
A rapid initial response may justify the urgency. But whether that determination — made before any medical confirmation — met the standard of rigor it demands is an entirely separate question.
■ Another Subcontractor Dead — A Structure That Keeps Repeating
Confined space.
Failed evacuation.
Subcontracted worker.
This structure keeps repeating.
Why did 46 workers make it out while one did not?
Were emergency evacuation routes designed into that space?
Were subcontracted workers held to the same safety standards?
These are the questions driving the investigation.
President Lee Jae-myung has repeatedly made the point: when disasters and accidents repeat themselves, they are no longer individual failures — they are structural failures.
This case is that statement in the present tense.
Police have launched an investigation into charges of professional negligence resulting in death against those responsible for on-site safety management. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has indicated it will investigate whether HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and the subcontractor violated South Korea's Serious Accidents Punishment Act — legislation that can imprison corporate executives for fatal safety failures. The Ulsan Branch of the Busan Regional Employment and Labor Office has issued a partial work suspension order covering all operations on the Hongbeomdo and any fire or explosion-risk maintenance work on other submarines at the shipyard.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries stated it would conduct a company-wide special safety training and establish measures to prevent recurrence.
That statement, too, sounds familiar.
A prevention plan has been announced.
But that sentence sounds familiar.
And so does what comes after it.
Another subcontractor is dead.
■ She Held On Inside the Flames
It was 33 hours.
And yet —
outside,
she was already gone.
원본 기사 보기:호주브레이크뉴스
