Munitions depot explodes
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Police have sealed off an area around a munitions depot at Chao Phraya Bodindecha Border Patrol Police camp in Chanthaburi province, which blew up on Tuesday night, damaging police housing and cars.
Nobody was injured.
A fire allegedly started at 10.45pm at the depot in the camp, where the Border Patrol Police Sub-Division 11 is based. After that about six separate explosions were heard.
Though six fire engines rushed to the scene, they had to wait for the ordnance to stop exploding before the fire could be safely doused.
Initial investigation showed that the fire broke out at a small depot housing rocket-propelled grenades, mortar shells, landmines and small arms ammunition retrieved by Border Patrol Police Sub-Division 11 and bomb squads along the |Thai-Cambodian border during and after the Indochina war.
Some of the explosive devices were awaiting destruction.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. The blaze damaged 11 or 12 police homes, while three or four police officers were hospitalised with minor shrapnel wounds.
Though the fire was put out after 20 minutes, a 20-metre area around the base was sealed off for safety reasons.
