Thailand Army Base Ammunition Disaster Toll High by Phairath Khampha 31 October 2001 Rescue workers in Thailand entered a burned-out army weapons depot where massive explosions on October 25, 2001 killed 20 people and injured 90. Tens of thousands of people packed into trucks, jumped on motorcycles or ran for their lives after munitions being trucked out for disposal exploded. Police said as many as 120 people were reported missing, but the number would most likely go down drastically when relatives separated in the panic are reunited. About 2,000 local residents spent the night in schools, temples and government buildings where local authorities did their best to supply food, water and sanitation. Areas around the depot were covered with shell casings, bullets, shrapnel and live ammunition, making many villagers afraid of returning to their homes. Officials expect that the he big Nakhon Ratchasima district could remain a virtual minefield for many years because bomb-disposal units would be unlikely to find and defuse all the unattended explosive devices scattered through the area. "It was every man for himself on Thursday," said a local police officer. "Some drove to Nakhon Nayok or Prachin Buri in panic. Fleeing motorcycles were carrying up to four persons each and many of the riders had to get off as they could not stay on those motorcycles for obvious reasons. They became stranded somewhere and their relatives became fearful when they did not return." Bomb disposal experts collected and defused bombs and rockets that showered on a four-kilometre area around where the massive explosions went off. The blasts were caused by accident and sabotage was not suspected, Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon said. The explosions happened as old artillery shells and other munitions were being taken to a warehouse for disposal, Commander General Surayud Chulanont said. An army spokesman said the base contained 50 buildings used to store ammunition. Evacuation The explosions continued through most of the day, making it too dangerous to confirm the number of dead or retrieve the bodies. The only two bodies retrieved immediately were outside the military compound - one died from the impact of the blasts and the other from a heart attack. Injured soldiers and civilians - mostly suffering cuts from flying glass - were taken to local hospitals for treatment. About 5,000 people were evacuated from the area, located in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, about 150 kilometres from Bangkok. They were taken to temporary shelters about 20 kilometres away after pieces of unexploded munitions showered down on their streets and houses. Fireballs and plumes of smoke rose hundreds of metres above the base. The explosion had also blocked off one of Thailand's busiest roads, creating heavy traffic jams. Arsenal exploded during transportation - Army says situation is under control The army said it brought under control its live ammunition arsenals and promised there would not be a repeat of the explosions which rocked Pak Chong district. In a statement released on October 25, the army said the blasts were accidental and happened when obsolete ammunition was being transported for disposal. The statement also said only one of the bodies of the 17 military personnel reported to have died in the explosion was recovered. Nineteen people were injured, five seriously. The army brought the situation under control and there would be no more explosions, the statement said. Army Commander-in-Chief Surayud Chulanont appointed Lt-Gen Sirichai Tunyasiri, the deputy chief-of-staff, to lead the fact-finding panel investigating the incident. Residents living near the exploded arsenal were warned against tampering with any ammunitions strewn over the area. They were asked to alert authorities if they came across ammunitions. The army pledged full co-operation with agencies in assisting residents affected by the explosion. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh wanted all existing stockpile facilities moved away from residential communities. He vowed to shift the arsenals despite a lack of budget. "We must hurry in relocating [the arsenals] even if we are out of money." The armed forces have moved 50% of its arsenals out of populated areas and the process was being hurried for the sake of public safety. Gen Chavalit said the military was careful when handling ammunitions, but the Pak Chong incident was an accident. He instructed Adm Narong Yutthawong, the supreme commander, to convene an urgent meeting of military leaders to discuss moving arsenals and tightening security. Warehouses must now be pushed further afield, he said, because communities often expanded around relocated arsenals in the past. Many warehouses were built 10 to 20 years before and some stored ammunitions which were four decades old. Gen Narong said budget constraints impeded the disposal of old stockpiles. Some ammunitions remained usable so the military kept them because it could not afford to replenish them, he said. All arsenals were maintained in compliance with US safety standards, Gen Narong said. The warehouses were amply ventilated with earthen mounds built around them. The military wanted to construct tunnels for storage but the budget shortage shattered the plan. The supreme commander said arsenals were efficiently run but certain "limitations" prevailed. The Pak Chong explosion taught the military a valuable "lesson", he said. Grave danger remains Bomb disposal experts combed a large area littered with rocket heads, artillery shells and other live munitions that posed a grave danger, following the explosions at the Thai army's biggest weapons depot. Numerous small red flags used by experts to mark locations of munitions sprouted up around the depot the day after the explosions. The clearance operation proved very tricky and in some cases highly risky, and might take as long as a month, officials said. Villagers were strictly warned to stay away from suspicious looking objects and report them to authorities. Some munitions landed six kilometres from the depot. "Anything that looks like a tailpipe or even a fish-sauce bottle is extremely dangerous," said an Army officer. "Even small empty bullet shells should not be kept as souvenirs." Those involved in the operation described gruesome scenes of barely recognisable body parts. A 3-km radius from the depot was declared off-limits to everyone except some 50 bomb disposal experts divided into four teams and about 100 soldiers assigned to support them. But the search for munitions also extended 2 km beyond the restricted zone. "This is likely to take up to a month," said a team leader. "We are facing some obstacles that prevent us from moving fast. We are talking about various kinds of munitions, from normal bullets to high-powered bombs." Once their locations were marked, the munitions were disposed by various means depending on their type. "We will have to defuse them or blow them up or use other methods," he said. "Where we find them will also determine the method of disposal. In some cases we may have to take the risk of removing them from their present locations and deal with them somewhere else." Villagers who fled the fire balls, flying debris, unexploded bombs and missiles began to trickle back the day after the explosions, but hundreds living too close to the depot were barred from their homes. The search teams gave priority to the Old Mittrapap Highway and objects found at villagers' homes. Twelve fire trucks were ordered to remain on standby at the barricades, while volunteers set up tents and distributed food and water to fire fighters and other rescue workers. Responding to the nervousness of the inhabitants, Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the government would move to relocate all ammunition depots away from residential areas. There was criticism over the pace of the clean up. On the day after the disaster an angry villager approached a group of the patrolmen taking a lunch break, saying he had been waiting for someone to remove a grenade from his home. "There's a grenade in my house. Why don't you do something?" he shouted. Arongorn Chaita, general manager of the Pak Chong Jute Mill Company located 5km from the site, said he was also angry about the disaster which harmed up to 50 of his workers. He told reporters that several bombs landed on his property and while soldiers destroyed seven of them, five remained there. Region 3 police deployed about 200 officers to enforce law and order in affected areas as many homes remain abandoned. There were no reports of burglary as of October 26. More than 100 villagers lodged complaints with police saying their houses were damaged by the explosions. Residential areas ruled to be 'safe' Families returned home after sweeps by bomb disposal units; villagers were told to be cautious. Most residents of Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district who were displaced for several days by the explosions at the nearby arsenal returned home after bomb-disposal units at the disaster site gave priority to residential areas. Assistant district officer Suraphan Silpsuwan, said a temporary shelter in the district office's compound was vacant on October 28 because most local people had returned home. He said 200 workers at the Pak Chong sack factory had been sent back to their hometowns - away from Pak Chong - while the damaged factory was being repaired. Suraphan said the factory owner agreed to let the workers go home and they would be paid for the 15-day work break. Suraphan said there were 400 bomb-disposal officers and 500 rescue-crew workers in the area. He said bomb units had quickly cleared all the unexploded bombs they could find out of residential areas. But he added that anyone finding an explosive device should urgently alert officials. "There are emergency mobile units that will arrive at your house soon after you alert them," he said. Pak Chong mayor Komkrit Limpanyalert said military officers focused on handling the bombs in residential areas within a two-kilometre radius first. However, he said the task would likely take a week to complete. Furthermore, the bomb-disposal squads had not yet scoured outer residential areas and some places surrounding local people's houses in the inner zone and residents might see red flags signifying dangerous spots not far from their homes. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra set a deadline of 15 days for concerned officials to ensure that Pak Chong district was safe with no unattended bombs outside weapons depots. Dr Samrerng Yaengkratoke, a local officer at the provincial public health office, said the explosions killed 18 people, physically injured 90 others and caused another 90 people to report mental symptoms. "We have treated more than 90 patients with mental problems," he said. He said these patients remained frightened and became paranoid. Some of them felt tightness in their chests, he added. Korat Psychiatric Hospital's director Dr Seri Tangseri said he already dispatched five psychiatrists along with more than 100 officials to Pak Chong area to take care of people suffering from mental symptoms. "We prescribe fright-reducing pills to local people with palpitations of the heart, headaches and fright," he said. Seri said shocked people would generally recover within two weeks but those hard-hit might need several months to restore their mental health. He said his hospital would take care of these patients until they were fully recovered. He advised witnesses of the arsenal explosions to talk with friends to relax their minds or do something pleasurable. He said they and the people around them should avoid chatting about anything that could make them more frightened. Pak Chong district officials met with local people to discuss financial assistance for those whose homes were damaged in the blasts. The owners of houses that were severely damaged could receive up to 25,000 baht while those with lesser damage would get compensation of up to 15,000 baht. More than 500 residents filed complaints with provincial officials saying their houses were damaged by the explosions. Amid fear that water could be contaminated, the Pak Chong waterworks authority brought safe water to local people in trucks while a hospital took samples of water for scientific tests. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun said the explosions at the arsenal in Pak Chong district should serve as a lesson for authorities to learn that explosive devices, dangerous chemicals and fireworks should be stored away from residential areas. He said he would not interfere with the Defence Ministry's affairs about the relocation of arsenals but said he would be willing to provide co-operation. Residents in Lop Buri's Huay Pong township voiced their opposition to a proposal to relocate weapons and bombs from Bangkok and Nonthaburi to an arsenal in their vicinity. "Our area is not a forest. It's a community. There are more than 100 houses and over 1,000 people here", Huay Pong resident Sukanya Kunarak said. Lop Buri MP Pongsak Worapanya said the army should check if the present arsenal in Lop Buri was in good condition and should hold public hearings to listen to local people's opinions before it opened any new weapons depots. Old explosives self-ignited, army concludes The Pak Chong arsenal explosion was caused by deteriorated munitions and not by careless handling, the army investigation concluded. The inquiry headed by Lt-Gen Sirichai Tunyasiri, deputy chief-of-staff, found the deteriorated munition-chemicals had ignited spontaneously. It rejected earlier suggestions the stockpile exploded because of a handling error as it was being taken away for disposal, said Lt-Col Sirichan Nga-thong, deputy army spokeswoman. On-site investigation had discounted the theory of human error because the seven ordnance disposal people on duty were all well-trained. An army source said the investigation found the explosion was probably intensified by the detonation of highly-destructive "bungalow torpedoes" stored in one of the arsenal warehouses. The torpedoes were used by the United States military during World War II and in the Vietnam War to blow up bridges and enemy encampments. A large number of them were kept in the warehouse. The source said any such torpedos older than 50 years were capable of self-detonation if exposed to intense heat and friction. It would be investigated whether the torpedoes triggered the first blast or compounded it. The army has six arsenals: in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi, for anti-aircraft armaments; in Padaeng, Lop Buri; in Payuha Khiri, Nakhon Sawan, about 20km from the city centre; in Muang district, Ratchaburi, about 1.5km from the Petchakasem highway; in Muang district, Kanchanaburi; and the unit in Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima, where last week's fatal explosions occurred. A residence-free zone will also be decreed within a 3 km radius of every arsenal. Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun ordered the Town and Country Planning Department to pinpoint "high-risk" areas nationwide where munitions warehouses and even firework factories are located. Pak Chong 'a minefield' For years to come, parents in Pak Chong would likely need to be concerned every time their children go to play in the fields. The big Nakhon Ratchasima district could remain a virtual minefield for many years because bomb-disposal units would be unlikely to find and defuse all the unattended explosive devices scattered through the area. Thousands of bombs and hundreds of thousands of gun bullets were believed to have showered across the district during the series of explosions. As of the end of October, some 21,000 explosive devices had been retrieved. Lt-Colonel Sanit Mangsungnoen, the former chief of a division in the arsenal, said on October 30 that bomb-disposal squads would not be able to locate all the explosive devices from the military compound. "Some bombs dug deep into the ground, while some plunged into natural water sources and officials will just never find them," he said. Sanit added that some rockets could go off by themselves if they heated to a temperature higher than 44 degrees Celsius. And some explosive devices could have devastating effects. The bombs underwater were not safe, as some people might believe, he said, because water pressure would aggravate the impact of explosions. Bomb-disposal units had resolved not to touch bombs in water sources, he said, for they were too dangerous for anyone to handle, including Thailand's explosives experts. Such threats appear likely to remain in Pak Chong and local people would have to be careful to avoid tragedies when fishing or farming with hoes on ground hiding unseen explosive devices. According to Sanit, bombs do not degenerate by themselves unless expired, and would be dangerous because they could explode at any time. Sanit urged local leaders to keep warning residents of possible dangers for at least 10 years to ensure all areas were free from bombs or that explosive devices posed no more threats. However, Royal Thai Army spokesman Colonel Somkuan Saengpatr insisted that his agency had ready personnel and equipment to clear the areas of bombs and called on people not to be worried or panicked. "The United Nations has also approved that our bomb-disposal squads have outstanding skills," he said. He dismissed reports that a private organisation's vehicles were carrying explosive devices, saying that the organisation volunteered to help in the task so it was just assigned to transport shrapnel. Somkuan said the bomb-disposal units had already safely handled 21,000 bombs and army engineers had repaired more than 50 houses. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said military officers were ready to help fix damaged schools and provided necessary assistance so that the classes could go on as normal. He also said he was considering a proposal to build tunnel-like ammunition depots in the mountains. Government spokesman Yongyuth Tiyapairat said the official record showed the blasts had destroyed 385 houses in Pak Chong, and had damaged 111 others, plus a sack factory. Some schools and government agencies' offices were also damaged by the explosions.