Toxic chemicals caused Laem Chabang seaport fire

[webfact]

Toxic chemicals caused seaport fire

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

 

Port Authority says shipper did not disclose flammable cargo.

 

HIGHLY FLAMMABLE toxic chemicals that were not declared were found inside the burnt cargo at Laem Chabang Seaport in Chon Buri province, the Thailand Port Authority disclosed.

 

After the fire broke out onboard the South Korean ship KMTC Hongkong while docking at Laem Chabang Seaport on Saturday morning, Port Authority director Kamolsak Phromprayoon revealed yesterday that 18 out of 35 remaining cargo containers on the ship held calcium hypochlorite and chlorinated paraffin wax. 

 

 

These are not only highly toxic to human health and environment, but also very flammable and can ignite by themselves.

 

Kamolsak said after a lot of effort, the port officers successfully put out the fire late on Saturday. The investigation team was sent yesterday morning to inspect the damage at the scene.

 

The inspection team found calcium hypochlorite in 13 cargos and chlorinated paraffin wax in five other cargos, so it could be concluded that the ignition of these toxic chemicals is the most plausible cause of fire.

 

A preliminary report on Saturday had said there were no toxic chemicals onboard and the cargo only contained dolls. He said the owners of the shipments had not declared these toxic chemicals to the Thai Customs Office, so the officers did not know what was inside the cargo.

 

“Generally, every shipment of toxic chemicals, including transferring of shipment, has to be declared before they enter our ports. But as the ship’s company had not declared these toxic chemicals, it would be the duty of the shipping company to claim the damage from the shipment’s owners,” Kamolsak said.

 

As the fire was caused by the burning of chemicals, the nearby communities around Laem Chabang Seaport had earlier reported on Saturday that they suffered from noxious smoke and acidic ashes raining down over their villages, which triggered the evacuation of many communities around the seaport.

 

The Pollution Control Department (PCD) announced that the threat from hazardous air pollution caused by the burning of chemicals had receded to safe levels.

 

 

Air quality measured inside Laem Chabang Seaport yesterday morning found the level of Volatile Organic Compounds, formaldehyde and chlorine gas in the air were all lowered to within the safe limits.

 

However, as some of the water and foam, used for extinguishing the fire, had leaked into the sea the PCD has already coordinated with the Thailand Port Authority to place floating booms around the area to prevent further chemical contamination in the sea.

 

The officers of the PCD and the Marine and Coastal Resources Department also jointly took seawater samples for examination in a lab and monitor the chemical leakage into the sea.

 

Meanwhile, Somnuck Jongmeewasin, a leading environmental expert of EEC Watch, said the incident showed that the Thailand Port Authority had completely failed to handle the situation by withholding critical information about the chemicals inside the ship. He said this had caused preventable harm to the local people and their own officers.

 

“As we have watched the news from yesterday, we were all very certain that there must be chemicals in the ship and the Thailand Port Authority only provided us with a very wide description of the chemicals. So, both firefighting officers at the scene, the local people and medical staff treating the injured people did not know what they were really dealing with,” Somnuck said.

 

“This lack of information contributed to improper protection against chemical exposure for the officers at the site, danger to people around the seaport, and made it harder for medical personnel to treat the injured people.”

 

He also pointed out that the lack of clear information also led to more problems, as officers had used water to put out the fire. They did not know that there was calcium hypochlorite, which becomes extremely acidic when it reacts with water, on the ship.

 

“The Thailand Port Authority needs to heighten surveillance of every shipment that passes through its seaports, or else we could suffer from a deadly chemical blast, like what happened in Tianjin port in China, in the future,” he cautioned.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30370019

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-27

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[mok199]

IMHO Thailand's white hats love this Drama its a opportunity to grandstand and get out the big guns .

Edited May 26, 2019 by mok199

[mikebell]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

But as the ship’s company had not declared these toxic chemicals, it would be the duty of the shipping company to claim the damage from the shipment’s owners,”

So not our fault - pesky foreigners endangering Thai lives.  Locals are being moved to Chiang Mai to avoid this contaminated air  .... oh.

[AhFarangJa]

So, why, on Saturday were the following statements sent out.................

 

Preliminary investigations have not found any toxic chemicals at Laem Chabang Port, which suffered a disruption due to a fire on Saturday morning, the director of Thailand Port Authority, Kamolsak Phromprayoon, said.

 

The department, however, said those goods were neither smuggled into the country nor were falsely declared, he said .

 

No????......... if that were true then why this statement today...............

3 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the owners of the shipments had not declared these toxic chemicals to the Thai Customs Office, so the officers did not know what was inside the cargo.

Absolute rubbish spouted by authorities as usual...............Let us hope no one has been affected by these chemicals.

Edited May 26, 2019 by AhFarangJa

[geoffbezoz]

3 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

So, why, on Saturday were the following statements sent out.................

 

Preliminary investigations have not found any toxic chemicals at Laem Chabang Port, which suffered a disruption due to a fire on Saturday morning, the director of Thailand Port Authority, Kamolsak Phromprayoon, said.

 

The department, however, said those goods were neither smuggled into the country nor were falsely declared, he said .

 

No????......... if that were true then why this statement today...............

Absolute rubbish spouted by authorities as usual...............Let us hope no one has been affected by these chemicals.

yep, possibly the Junta importing dangerous chemicals illegally.  No doubt eventually they will find some link to Shinawatra and/or the Future Forward Party so that they can get the latter dissolved as a terrorist organisation and impose military rule again.

 

Whilst tongue in cheek nothing would surprise given  the port authorities total misleading statements earlier.

[jlwilliamsjr18]

It helps to know what these substances are used and why they might be here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hypochlorite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_paraffins

[Knocker33]

What's the bet they set up a committee to spend months doing nothing about it. Oh and throw in a few overseas jollies

[Assurancetourix]

43 minutes ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

It helps to know what these substances are used and why they might be here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hypochlorite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_paraffins

About the second link :

 

Most of their uses were banned from the end of 1995 in rich countries, but their usefulness for fireproofing makes it difficult to remove short chain chlorinated paraffins.

 

If you want more informations , the link in french has much more details .

 

It reminds me of what I saw in Vietnam in the early 1990s;
huge stocks of asbestos, banned products for manufacturing and sales in Europe;
the manufacturers, of course unscrupulous, and not wanting to lose a franc (the euro did not exist yet), had chartered commercial vessels to sell their dangerous products in Asia.

[lvr181]

The usual "face saving" lacking knowlege or investigation bulls hit stories told by authorities initially. Sadly, nothing changes or is learned. ???? 

[KKr]

 

DUPLICATE OBSERVATION about
yesterday's official statements about "facts" that no toxic chemicals were aboard deleted.
 

 

[KKr]

1 hour ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

It helps to know what these substances are used and why they might be here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hypochlorite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_paraffins

interesting is that albeit toxic, neither seems to be flammable or unstable
rather to the contrary.

any thoughts on what happens if these substances are mixed ?

Edited May 27, 2019 by KKr

[SiSePuede419]

Chon Buri? 

 

Isn't that where Pattaya is located?

 

Did anyone notice? ????

 

[Assurancetourix]

16 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

The usual "face saving" lacking knowlege or investigation bulls hit stories told by authorities initially. Sadly, nothing changes or is learned. ???? 

Right;

 

 

"Meanwhile, Yutana Phoolpipat, the director of Customs Department Office at Laem Chabang Port in eastern coastal Thailand, said some chemical goods were responsible for the fire."

 

Appalling   ; Contrary to one day to another is not a problem

 

The department, however, said those goods were neither smuggled into the country nor were falsely declared, he said .

 

[Benmart]

The usual "experts" spoutung heresay, guesswork, negative clap-trap and assorted opiniins. All based on a news report.

[IamNoone88]

Makes we wonder what else could be entering the country undeclared or declared only as "Dolls". All sort of unregulated nasty staff being hoarded somewhere and for who knows what ... 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Meanwhile, Somnuck Jongmeewasin, a leading environmental expert of EEC Watch, said the incident showed that the Thailand Port Authority had completely failed to handle the situation by withholding critical information about the chemicals inside the ship. He said this had caused preventable harm to the local people and their own officers.

Sounds about par for Thailand... withhold information which could cause health risks to first responders & people in the vicinity. Then go into denial about the possibility of dangerous cargo... 

When will Thailand ever learn?

[Katipo]

So I assume, given the extreme seriousness of the situation, there will be a thorough investigation, charges will be laid, followed by arrests? Hahahahah, who am I kidding? Have a great day everyone. Oh look, a half naked farang took a photo at a temple.... quick quick!

Edited May 27, 2019 by Katipo

[Speedhump]

1 hour ago, Benmart said:

The usual "experts" spoutung heresay, guesswork, negative clap-trap and assorted opiniins. All based on a news report.

It wouldn't be TV otherwise.... 

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, Benmart said:

The usual "experts" spoutung heresay, guesswork, negative clap-trap and assorted opiniins. All based on a news report.

Perhaps would not happen if the TRUTH were told instead of bulls hit. 

[dallen52]

So we would expect a little bit more than 500 baht fine and three wais. 

 

Add the personal injuries. 

Cost of cleaning up. 

Undisclosed materials on the ships manifest. 

$$$$$$

 

[atyclb]

3 hours ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

It helps to know what these substances are used and why they might be here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hypochlorite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorinated_paraffins

 

Currently, over 200 CP formulations are in use for a wide range of industrial applications, such as flame retardants

[dallen52]

4 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

So, why, on Saturday were the following statements sent out.................

 

Preliminary investigations have not found any toxic chemicals at Laem Chabang Port, which suffered a disruption due to a fire on Saturday morning, the director of Thailand Port Authority, Kamolsak Phromprayoon, said.

 

The department, however, said those goods were neither smuggled into the country nor were falsely declared, he said .

 

No????......... if that were true then why this statement today...............

Absolute rubbish spouted by authorities as usual...............Let us hope no one has been affected by these chemicals.

What was said borders on being correct. 

The port authority was not aware of the toxic chemicals, because they were not disclosed on the shipping manifest. 

So as far as they knew they were dealing with empty containers..

Which happened to explode. lol.

 

You have two possibly highly dangerous chemicals being shipped together,  totally undisclosed to the authorities. 

Main use is bleach and water purification. 

Carcinogenic and producing chlorine gases. 

Looking back at the data sheets that I had from my environmental auditing days.

They dont ring bells as individual items. 

Although any bleach is oxidizing. 

And any chlorine based product can produce chlorine gases.

 

However, It does say "Do not Mix"

And obviously care about exposure to water... 

 

That's good enough for me. 

 

Not a good spot for fishing anymore I would think..

 

But then again,  it may well clean up the shit and sewage around pattaya.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by dallen52

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

When will Thailand ever learn?

I would like to say "Never" but hell could freeze over so I would hazard a guess at "No time soon"!

 

As an aside, Hell is a town in the USA which did freeze over, apparently.  

[lvr181]

12 minutes ago, dallen52 said:

But then again,  it may well clean up the shit and sewage around pattaya.

Are you suggesting that the mix be spilt on the local administration? ????

[Fred white]

37 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

I would like to say "Never" but hell could freeze over so I would hazard a guess at "No time soon"!

 

As an aside, Hell is a town in the USA which did freeze over, apparently.  

Nah we got global warming going on hell's not going to freeze over ????

[stanleycoin]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Sounds about par for Thailand... withhold information which could cause health risks to first responders & people in the vicinity. Then go into denial about the possibility of dangerous cargo... 

When will Thailand ever learn?

It needs,  to learn the basics first. 

 

[TheHangingJudge]

There is no accountability these morons spouting lies or misinformation bring them to face charges.

[KKr]

4 hours ago, Benmart said:

The usual "experts" spoutung heresay, guesswork, negative clap-trap and assorted opiniins. All based on a news report.

eagerly awaiting your better informed and constructive contribution  :-) if any ????

[joecoolfrog]

4 hours ago, Benmart said:

The usual "experts" spoutung heresay, guesswork, negative clap-trap and assorted opiniins. All based on a news report.

It seems to me that the Thai environmental expert of EEC Watch was extremely critical. Is your apologist led opinion as valid as his ?

[dallen52]

5 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Chon Buri? 

 

Isn't that where Pattaya is located?

 

Did anyone notice? ????

 

That is right. Pattaya. 

 

Whenever I mention anything I see on TVF to my partner, she isn't really interested. 

This is the general attitude of many local Thais I know.

 

Be it political parties,  military, natural disasters..

 

They have a fascination with bike accidents and the graphic stuff shown on the news channels. 

 

The 8pm government waffle gets turned off too.

 

Much of the stuff we are privy to never makes the local news.

Obviously censoring is prevalent by the powers that be.