Seven die, 19 injured after war-time bomb explodes in Bangkok scrap shop
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 02 April, 2014, 9:44pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 April, 2014, 2:31am
Associated Press in Bangkok
Firefighters extinguish fire caused by an exploding wartime bomb at a scrap metal warehouse in the Bang Khen district of Bangkok. Photo: Xinhua
Workers at a scrap shop in Thailand's capital yesterday accidentally detonated a large bomb believed to have been dropped during the second world war, killing at least seven people and injuring 19 others, police said.
Police bomb squad chief Kamthorn Auicharoen said construction workers had found the bomb buried at a building site and sold it to the scrap shop in northern Bangkok. Employees at the shop were using a gas-powered thermal cutter to take it apart when it exploded.
The massive blast ripped apart the scrap shop in Bangkok's Lad Plakao neighbourhood and damaged nearby houses.
Construction workers on another project found a similar bomb in a different area of Bangkok on Saturday but it was handed over to police.
Buried bombs continue to be found from time to time in other major Asian cities.
A 2,000-pound second world war bomb had to be defused in Hong Kong in February, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of Happy Valley residents.
