An oil tanker exploded in the middle of the Mae Klong river in Thailand’s Samut Songkhram province on Tuesday, killing two and injuring four people. Eight dockyard workers went missing after the incident as well.
The oil tanker, with a 6,500 deadweight tonnes capacity exploded during its maintenance at Ruammitr Dockyard at around 9 am, causing damage to a number of local houses.
According to Bangkok Post, Samut Songkhram Provincial Governor Mr. Somnuek Phromkiew said that ten workers were on the ship while the other 30 workers were working nearby.
Although it was previously reported to be empty, according to the governor, the tanker still had 25,000 liters of fuel oil and 20,000 liters of diesel onboard.
Three injured workers were reportedly from Myanmar, namely Mr. Vinthay, Mr. Yasha, and Mr. Awe, the fourth person wounded was a Thai worker, Mr. Somphong.
The deceased worker was identified as Mr. Thui, a Myanmar nation whose right leg blasted off as an impact from the incident and was later discovered 500 meters from the tank. The other person who died is currently unidentified because his body was burned badly. A total of eight workers are still missing.
Mr. Samran, 68, a resident whose house is 700 meters from the explosion site said that he was sitting outside his house when he heard an extremely loud noise that shook his home. He later discovered that the inside of the house suffered some damage as well.
Another local, Ms. Pairin, 40, observed a cracked wall in her house after the explosion took place before finding out that her one-year-old American bull dog died out of shock.
The fire was extinguished the same day, and authorities are currently investigating the cause of the explosion.
