AN ELECTRIC school van burst in flames which spread to another van and also burnt down part of a kindergarten in Sukhumvit soi 38 today (Oct. 2) but fortunately none of the small pupils were harmed as they were having lunch in another building, Siam Rath newspaper reported.
Pol. Lt. Col. Eklak Siriyotsophon, an investigator of Thonglor Police Station, was alerted to the fire erupting at the kindergarten at 12.20 p.m. and quickly sent in firemen and rushed there to investigate.
Firemen took around 20 minutes to put out the blaze raging at a two-storey building with the ground floor used for parking while the upper floor for special classes. Two school vans and part of this building were gutted.
Eyewitnesses told police that one of the two electric vans that was plugged for charging suddenly exploded and burst in flames. The guard used a chemical extinguisher to put out the fire, and initially did succeed in almost extinguishing it, but it then erupted again and spread to the second van parked next to it and also part of the school building.
One of the executives said this is an international kindergarten but most of the students are Japanese with there being around 50 of them studying from kindergarten 1 to 3. The classrooms above the car park are only used to teach Thai language and culture on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Pol. Lt. Col. Eklak said it was fortunate no one got injured and the cause of the blaze was most likely the van’s electric charging system. However a detailed investigation will be undertaken to ascertain this assumption.
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The fire at Sukhumvit soi 38 kindergarten and the small pupils with their teachers who fortunately were not harmed in any way. Photos: Siam Rath
