Ayuthaya -- Thailand
14 dead in fireworks fire
A
massive explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand has killed 14 people,
including a 4-year-old boy, and injured two others, a police official said.
About 20 workers were at the Boonlue fireworks
factory in the ancient Thai capital of Ayuthaya when the blast occurred Sunday afternoon,
causing the building's roof to collapse, police Maj. Gen. Wanchai Thanakit said. The two
injured workers were hospitalized.
The factory was operating illegally after having had
its license revoked last year following an earlier explosion, he told reporters.
Police are investigating the cause of the accident,
Wanchai said.
Further details were not immediately available,
including the identity of the 4-year-old boy.
Ayuthaya is about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of
Bangkok.
Ayuthaya
Fireworks explosion kills 14 in Thailand
Some 32 workers were inside Boon-luer Dok Mai Fai
factory in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, about 45 miles north of Bangkok, when the
blasts went off about 2 p.m., the Bangkok Post reported Monday.
Thunderous blasts flattened the steel factory, and a
nearby house was destroyed. The explosions left two large craters, each about 10 feet deep
and 30 feet in diameter, where gunpowder and potassium nitrate had been stored. The
charred and torn bodies of the dead were scattered over the area.
Ayutthaya's governor Somsak Kaewsuthi said the
owners had a permit to operate one fireworks factory. However, authorities said more than
one factory was in operation, and the one that exploded was probably operating illegally.
Police records showed that a previous explosion had
taken place at the factory, and the owners were still being sought for questioning.
A large number of people in Ayutthaya make a living
by producing fireworks. The factory was said to be under pressure to meet orders for
fireworks ahead of an approaching festival.
Ayuthaya
At least 14 people killed in Thai fireworks factory blast
--Thailand
-- Fourteen people were killed and five injured Sunday in an explosion at a fireworks
factory in Thailand's ancient capital Ayuthaya, officials and witnesses said.
The blast destroyed the factory that officials
revealed had not had a licence to produce fireworks for 10 years and police blamed
"carelessness" for the blast.
All the dead and injured were from the Boon-Leur
factory in Ayuthaya, just north of the Thai capital Bangkok, but the blast at 3:00 pm
(0800 GMT) also damaged nearby houses, according to officials and witnesses.
Police said the intensity of the blast was making it
hard to identify the victims, but that at least seven were men and three were women.
Thai television showed images of a completely
flattened building amid fields littered with charred debris from what appeared to have
been an enormous explosion.
"What we do know is this factory's license ran
out 10 years ago and it was illegally producing fireworks,"
Kamnueng Isaro, a district official, told state
radio.
Prasith Thotawin, who lived nearby, said he rushed
to the site when he heard the loud blast and help comfort the injured, according to the
online news outlet Manager.
The man said he had found four youths aged between
13 and 15 with severe skin burns and helped them get to a nearby hospital.
The factory had moved to its most recent site from
across the road a decade ago after the original building was also destroyed in a similar
accident, said Ayuthaya's deputy director of Industrial Works, Prasert Tapineeyanguru.
He said the owner of the factory, Boon-Leur Imsuwan,
could face up to two years in jail for operating the illegal factory, but did not indicate
if that sentence would be increased because of the high number of deaths resulting from
the blast.
Police said they suspected the accident may have
been the result of increased fireworks production at the factory to complete orders ahead
of the kingdom's Loi Krathong festival.
Letting off fireworks is a key part of Loi Krathong,
which falls on November 26 this year and is one of Thailand's largest festivals celebrated
by people all over the country.
Bangkok's municipal authority has been working to
have fireworks banned from the festival in the capital, citing them as a danger to
people's lives.
Ayuthaya police spokesman Wanchai Tanadkit said the
blast destroyed the 200 square-metre building housing the fireworks operation.
"I believe it was most likely carelessness
which caused this explosion," he said, adding it had also damaged houses about 200
metres (yards) away from the factory.
Wanchai said an investigation would be conducted
into the cause of the blast and police had secured the site.
"The accident site is now under control... and
casualties have been taken to Phranakhon Riaythayo and Phra Sangaraja hospitals,"
said Wanchai, adding the factory owner's wife was among the injured.
He said no one outside the factory had been injured
by the blast.
--At least 14 people were
killed and two injured in a series of explosions at a fireworks factory in Ayutthaya,
Thailand Sunday.