Hsinchu:Two employees who were unaccounted for following a fire at a Panasonic factory in Hsinchu County have been found dead, the county's Fire Bureau announced on Thursday.

According to Focus Taiwan, the fire broke out early Wednesday morning at around 2 a.m. at Panasonic's five-story factory located on Guangfu Road in Hukou Township. At the time of the fire, more than 20 individuals were working on the production lines. The fire resulted in injuries to five men, including three Taiwanese and two Vietnamese, all of whom were conscious when transported to the hospital.

The Fire Bureau reported that 12 vehicles and 23 firefighters were dispatched in the morning to continue searching through the debris with heavy machinery, during which the bodies of the two missing Taiwanese employees were discovered. The factory, which focuses on research and development and the production of printed circuit boards and semiconductor packaging materials, had passed a fire safety inspection as recently as August.

The initial investigation suggested that the fire might have been linked to the presence of flammable chemical solvents, such as methanol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), inside the plant. However, the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.