Videos obtained by Átlátszó show fire and explosion in Komárom battery factory

While the Samsung SDI factory in Göd is in the center of pollution and safety concerns about the heavily subsidized battery industry, similar issues can be found in other battery factories. According to documents and video recordings obtained by Átlátszó, a fire and explosion occurred during testing at the SK Battery Manufacturing Kft. factory in Komárom. Additionally, in 2025, the company was found to have violated labor laws, resulting in fines for accidents and serious occupational safety violations.

Smoke rises, and then an explosion blows a door open inside the South Korean SK Battery Manufacturing factory in Komárom, North-West Hungary. This can be seen in a video obtained by Átlátszó from insider sources. The accident happened during a quality control test of manufactured battery cells. We do not know exactly when the recording was made, but according to our sources, the fire seen in the video has not been the only one; multiple accidents happened in the building where such tests are carried out.

In battery factories, the quality and conformity of products are checked in several stages during the manufacturing process. In addition, the manufactured battery cells must also be tested in a separate department; at the SK Battery Manufacturing Kft. factory in Komárom, this quality control and testing activity takes place in building B14.

No permit for a fire hazard

According to testimonies, documents, and video recordings obtained by Átlátszó, fire safety testing of battery cells and modules also takes place in building B14; however,

The factory’s environmental permit and safety report do not mention this type of testing taking place at the plant.

During fire testing, fire alarms are supposedly turned off, but in one case, because the smoke reached more distant parts of the building, the alarm went off there – this can be heard in another video recording:

We sent questions to SK Battery Manufacturing Kft. regarding the type of testing and any potential problems. However, their response was limited to the following statement:

“The products undergo a multi-stage inspection and validation process, which includes electrical, mechanical, safety, and functional testing. The specific testing methods, parameters, and validation procedures are considered confidential information from a business and technological perspective.”

The factory repeatedly endangered it’s workers

Several news outlets have previously reported on accidents that occurred at SK Battery Manufacturing’s factory in Komárom.

In January 2022, RTL reported that 14 people had to be taken to the hospital from the factory due to a gas leak. Then hvg.hu, in possession of official reports, wrote that carcinogenic gases had entered the workplace airspace and that the company had been fined 1.5 million HUF (approximately 4,000 EUR) for seriously and directly endangering its workers.

Telex reported a fire last August. According to the Komárom-Esztergom County Disaster Management Directorate, the fire broke out in the filling and aging section of the factory’s cell forming building, where battery packs and the plastic crates storing them burned.

A penalty decision was issued in the fall of 2022, which we obtained through a public data request.

lists 18 points of occupational safety violations committed by the company.

At that time, the company was fined 4.1 million HUF (11000 EUR) for seriously endangering the health and physical integrity of its employees.

The decision highlights that the occupational safety regulations stipulated in previous warnings and fines were not implemented. According to point 15 of the document, which lists the omissions at length, several local fires occurred in the factory, in connection with which the authority found that:

“The employer did not have information about the composition of the vapors/gases released during the fire or the combined effect of the ignition of combustible materials in the environment.”

However, it appears that the factory workers were still not safe after this: according to the Opten company database, two labor law fines were imposed on the company in 2025.

According to data on the website of the Ministry of National Economy, in May 2025, the company was ordered to pay a fine of HUF 4.3 million for violating “personal hygiene suitability tests for job positions and employment prohibitions.” The content of the latest labor law decision is not yet known. We have submitted another public data request regarding the decisions issued by the government authorities over the past two years, which include various sanctions (warnings, obligations, fines), but we have not yet received a response.

Failed industrial boom, pollution cover-up

In recent years, the Hungarian government heavily subsidized new battery factories (primarily opened by South Korean and Chinese companies), hoping to create an industrial boom based on the battery industry. The sector’s growth, however, has started to lag, and in 2026, pollution by the battery industry came to the center of national attention.

In February, the news site Telex reported that the Hungarian domestic intelligence services investigated the factory’s pollution, reporting directly to Viktor Orbán. The investigation confirmed pollution and workplace safety violations which Átlátszó reported in the past: the company exposed employees to toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, and tried to cover up the extent of the pollution.

Although authorities fined the factory numerous times, it has continued to operate the same way, and in 2023, Samsung received 133 billion HUF (352 million EUR) government aid to expand its Göd operations.

Telex also reported that Samsung attempted to lobby the government to shut Átlátszó’s reporting down. Three months later, the Sovereignty Protection Office launched an investigation into Átlátszó, and the factory’s management expressed hope that it could lead to the site “ceasing operations.”

Written by Zsuzsa Bodnár, translated by Zalán Zubor.  The original Hungarian articles can be found here. Cover image: still from the video obtained by Átlátszó