40 Workers Injured In Gas Explosion In Chaiyaphum

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31 workers injured in gas explosion

By The Nation

Chaiyaphum

Thirty-one workers were injured when a bio-gas pipe of a tapioca factory exploded, causing massive fire that engulfed them.

Police said the accident at the Chaiyaphum Starch Co Ltd the happened at 4:30 pm Friday.

A factory engineer told police that the explosion was caused by sparks from wild grasses burning that were flown to the bio-gas pipe.

Police said 18 workers were severely injured in the fire and were rushed to the Maharaj Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima. The remaining injured workers were being treated at the Chaiyaphum Hospital.

The tapioca factory used bio-gas, which was made from cassava wastes, to generate electricity for using in the factory.

Over 100 workers were working in two plant buildings. The fireball caused by the gas explosion engulfed the first factory very fast and caused some 30 workers to suffer severe burns.

The massive fire caused the first factory's roof to partially collapse.

Some 20 fire engines took over two hours to control the fire.

Officials said the fire caused some Bt20 million worth of damages.

-- The Nation 2011-02-26

[Lite Beer]

Many workers suffered severe burns in explosion

By SUTTHIPONG SETTHARANGSI,

KASEM CHANATHINART

THE NATION ON SUNDAY.

Eighteen of 31 workers wounded in a factory fire on Friday suffered severe burns and remain in a critical conditions, doctors said yesterday.

The accident happened in Chaiyaphum province at 4.30pm on Friday when a bio-gas pipe at the tapioca factory Chaiyaphum Starch Co Ltd exploded, police said.

Some 18 injured workers in a critical condition were rushed to Maharaj Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Dr Soonthorn Chinprasatsak at Maharaj Hospital said 50-90 per cent of their skin was burned. Their lungs were inflamed and other internal organs were also affected.

Most were unconscious and needed ventilator support. Doctors had to closely monitor their condition. It would take a month to treat them.

Another seven injured workers were being treated at Chaiyaphum Hospital and two were at Chatturat Hospital in Chaiyaphum. Four others had been discharged and gone home.

Soonthorn said teams of doctors with different expertise would help cure them with plastic surgery, |accident surgery, emergency medicine, general medicine and dermatology.

Others were admitted to Fort Suranari Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Ratchasima in the same province.

A factory engineer told police the explosion was caused by sparks from burning wild grass that ignited the bio-gas pipe.

The factory owner estimated the fire caused at least Bt20 million worth of damage. However, the company said it would pay the wounded workers Bt20,000 each and cover their treatment costs.

The tapioca factory used bio-gas, which was made from cassava wastes, to generate electricity for the factory.

Over 100 workers were working in two plant buildings. The fireball caused by the gas explosion engulfed the first factory very fast and caused some 30 workers to suffer severe burns.

The massive fire caused the first factory's roof to partly collapse. Some 20 fire engines took over two hours to control the fire.

-- The Nation 2011-02-27

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GAS EXPLOSION TOLL RISES TO SEVEN

Five more workers killed

By The Nation

Chaiyaphum

Five more workers succumbed to their severe burns Monday, raising to seven the death toll in the gas explosion of a tapioca plant in Chaiyaphume.

The five workers were identified as Wongduen Thochai, 39, Pradit Sriwilai, 35, Luan Thochai, 67, Prapol Patama, 37, and Narong Patama, 18.

The bio gas pipe of Chaiyaphum Starch Co Ltd exploded on Friday, sending massive fireballs to engulf and severely burn over 30 workers.

Two days later, two of the workers succumbed to the burns.

Hospital officials said 13 other workers were still in coma and were being treated at the Mahraj Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima, Srinakharin Hospital in Khon Kaen,, and the Khon Kaen Provincial Hospital.

The Khon Kaen Provincial Hospital said three workers treated there had little chance to survive.

The factory, which is located on the Chaiyaphume-Sikhiew Road in Chaiyaphum's Chaturas district, generated its own electricity from biogas made by tapioca wasted.

Its gas pipe exploded Friday, causing a massive fire that quickly engulfed one of two factory buildings. The fireballs called by the explosion also burned the workers.

The factory claimed that the explosion caused by sparks from wild grass burning flown to the pipe.

Pol Lt Col Suchart Choengchan, an investigator of the Chaturas district police station, said police had yet to conclude the cause of the explosion. The investigation should be done this week, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-02-28