SOON after chemical warehouses in Rayong caught fire last Monday (Apr. 22) a chemical leak at a factory in Bangkok’s Rama 2 area led to toxic smoke billowing in the area in the predawn hours of today (Aug. 25), Amarin TV said.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s chemical response team together with firefighters and rescuers rushed to control the leakage that occurred at 2.10 a.m.
White smoke was billowing out from the factory’s chemical warehouse and the team quickly moved 12 tanks giving off smoke and used water to douse them.
It was later discovered that the tanks stored Thiourea or Thiocarbamate which are used in agriculture to stimulate seed germination and accelerate flowering and budding.
Bangmod police station is investigating this accident.
Meanwhile Industry Minister Ms. Pimpatra Wichaikul said the fire at Win Process Co.’s chemical warehouses in Rayong could be connected to a previous fire at an abandoned chemical warehouse Ayutthaya on Mar. 1 this year and has ordered ministry’s permanent secretary and the head of Industrial Works Department to immediately look into this matter.
Asked whether the connection between the two fires is the destruction of evidence, Pimpatra said it is best to wait for police to investigate and reach a conclusion.
She added that there had also been a fire at a recycling plant in Ratchaburi on Apr. 4 this year and the truth must be ascertained.
However she mentioned that the fires do look suspicious but the police have to first summarise the case while she will be going to the affected areas to check the residue and air quality as well as see if people have been affected and whether nearby canals got polluted.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Officials and firemen dousing chemical tanks at a Rama 2 road factory before dawn today (Apr. 25).
Insert: Industry Minister Ms. Pimpatra Wichaikul, right, and the fire raging at chemical warehouses in Rayong. All photos: Amarin TV
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