A GAS CYLINDER exploded at a two-storey Ratchaburi hotel this morning (June 20) injuring two cooks and two other workers with the large building made of lightweight bricks having collapsed, Thai Rath newspaper said.
At 9.30 a.m. Pol. Capt. Pipat Panghom, deputy inspector at Mueang Ratchaburi police station, was alerted of The Canal Ratchaburi Hotel having collapsed after a 15-kg gas cylinder exploded and quickly rushed there with a police team, rescuers and paramedics from Ratchaburi Hospital totalling more than 50 people.
At the scene they found that the large building which was divided into conference rooms, a banquet hall and guest rooms with a swimming pool in the courtyard was entirely damaged by the force of the explosion. The roof over some rooms had caved in and glass panels shattered with one wall having crumpled.
Two of the four workers, both cooks, were seriously injured and were identified as Mrs. Thongla Ratchawong, 51, and Mr. Praphas Praisuwan, 44. Slightly injured were Mrs. Amporn Khammonthao, 51, and Mrs. Somboon Uam-im, 50.
Ms. Supawadee Themboon, the hotel manager, said she heard the sound of the explosion from her residence around 900 metres away and quickly went there. The four injured workers pleaded for help and she immediately called the police and the hospital.
As the hotel was closed today, there were only workers there with the two cooks who were within the building being seriously injured and two others outside slightly so, she added, also saying that she did not know how the gas cylinder exploded.
Workers told her that just as one of the cooks lit the gas stove the cylinder suddenly exploded causing the walls and part of the roof to collapse.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Wachiraphong Amaraphithak, commander of the Ratchaburi provincial police, said there were six large 48-kg gas cylinders at the back of the hotel with all the valves turned off. It was a 15-kg gas cylinder upfront on the ground floor that exploded.
With the structure having been built with lightweight bricks it easily crumpled but experts will be carrying out a detailed examination.
Police cordoned off the hotel compound for safety in case the building collapses further with forensics officers from the Ratchaburi police station determining the cause of the gas cylinder explosion.
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Top and Front Page: The badly damaged Canal Ratchaburi Hotel after this morning’s gas cylinder explosion. Photos: Thai Rath
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