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At least nine people have been killed, including three children, in a blast at a fireworks warehouse in a market in southern Thailand on Saturday.
The explosion in Sungai Kolok, on the Malaysian border, seriously injured at least 115 people and is thought to have been caused by construction work.
“A warehouse storing firecrackers in Sungai Kolok exploded this afternoon, the latest number is nine dead and 115 injured,” Narathiwat Governor Sanan Pongaksorn told the AFP news agency.
Videos posted on social media from the site showed a huge plume of smoke over the area and many damaged structures, cars and motorbikes, as well as streets covered with debris. Many of the houses and other buildings appear to have collapsed roofs and walls.
Public broadcaster Thai PBS said that as many as 500 houses were damaged by the explosion in the border town on the frontier with Malaysia.
Residents described hearing a huge explosion at around 3pm (09:00 BST). The force shook buildings, shattered windows and collapsed rooves, sending a massive plume of smoke into the air. The explosion has also destroyed a large part of the town in Narathiwat province.
The market fire has been brought under control and a preliminary investigation indicates a “technical error” in steel welding during construction work on the building was responsible, local governor Sanon Pongaksorn said.
Seksan Taesen, an eyewitness who lives 100m (330 ft) from the market, said he was at home when he heard a “loud, thunderous noise and my whole house shook”.
“Then I saw my roof was wide open. I looked outside and I saw house collapsing and people lying on the ground everywhere. It was chaos,” he told AFP.
Accidents involving fireworks in South East Asia, which are commonly used in the region to commemorate big events, are not unusual.
One in a factory in Indonesia six years ago killed 49 people. Another five days ago killed one woman and injured 10 more in northern Thailand.
Despite public pressure to improve safety, Thailand still has a poor record of accidents on its roads, construction sites and in the work place. Enforcement of regulations is all the more challenging in Sungai Kolok - a notoriously rowdy border town where anything goes, located in a region of Thailand which is still blighted by an active armed insurgency.
