ISTANBUL

Three workers were killed and another two remained missing after a boiler tower collapsed Thursday at a power plant in southeastern South Korea, according to local media on Friday.

Firefighting officials said the bodies of two workers were recovered from the debris at the Ulsan branch of Korea East-West Power, a state-run utility, while one person was already pronounced dead while trapped, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Operations to pull out another two are ongoing, though both are feared dead.

Of the nine people, believed to be subcontractor employees, who were initially trapped after the accident, two were rescued in good condition.

The collapsed 60-meter (196.8 feet) tower was reportedly in the process of being dismantled using explosives.