A FIRE which broke out at a decommissioned bus depot this afternoon (Dec. 25) badly damaged nine old tour buses collectively worth at least 80 million baht but fortunately there were no injuries, Amarin TV said.
At 12.50 p.m. Pol. Lt. Col. Senee Kanpawong, an investigation officer at Bang Sao Thong police station, was alerted of vehicles ablaze on the outer ring road in Thawi Watthana district and quickly went there after coordinating with Bang Khun Non fire and rescue station.
At the 21-rai depot there were at least 10 decommissioned tour buses parked on the left side just 300 metres from the entrance with the fire engulfing nine of them.
Mr. Somkiat Srisomboon, 57, a driver who was the first person to spot the blaze, said he was washing his car when he saw smoke billowing from one of the old buses that were soon to be auctioned off with the blaze quickly spreading to the other buses.
He suspects that as it is very dry and there is a lot of grass where they were parked the fire might have started after someone threw a cigarette butt there.
He called around 20 people who were working at the depot to help put out the fire and also phoned the fire station. They sprayed fire extinguishers until the firemen came and put it in 20 minutes.
Mr. Kongkiat Leerasiri, 46, manager of Siam Travel Co. Ltd. which owns these tour buses said they had not been used for almost 10 years and none had any fuel in them.
While the damage is at least 80 million baht he is happy no one got injured.
Pol. Col. Suwarot Chotikanchanarat, deputy chief of Metropolitan Police Division 7, said a forensic team is investigating to determine the cause of the fire. All nine were old buses ran on diesel but not in use for nearly 10 years.
CAPTION:
Nine tour buses damaged by fire that broke out at a depot this afternoon, Dec. 25, 2024. Photos: Amarin TV
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