Thailand's Pak Chong Munitions Storage Explodes Again by Phairath Khampha 31 January 2002 Just three months after munitions explosions in Thailand rattled Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district, a second volley occurred on January 29, 2002, leaving 14 people injured, one of them seriously. One soldier was killed instantly. The explosions took place in the army arsenal compound in Tambon Nong Sarai, Pak Chong district, 180 kilometres northeast of Bangkok. Though not as violent as the blasts of October 2001, which saw dozens killed, residents in the neighbouring community were nevertheless rushed out of their homes to safer locations. The explosions originated in a storage area for unexploded munitions scattered by the October 25 explosion and later collected. The explosion took place, officials said, in exactly the same location as October's blast. The blasts occurred within a radius of one kilometre and damaged houses up to 6km away, officials said. Among the 14 blast victims were five soldiers. Most of them suffered minor injuries, but one of the soldiers was still hospitalised as of January 29, according to the Narenthorn Centre of the Public Health Ministry. Approximately 500 residents and students in the neighbourhood were evacuated to the district's city hall. Some later returned home, but another 200 remained at the shelter. Lt-Colonel Sirijan Nga-thong, deputy spokeswoman for the Army, said bomb-disposal experts could not yet get close to the explosion site because it was next to a storage area for more than 50,000 old munitions. They would have to wait until they were certain that the risk of the latter detonating in the wake of the first blasts was over. Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said that before the January 29 explosions about 80,000 defective munitions, most of them rockets and mortar bombs, had been waiting to be destroyed in the arsenal. Army staff had started to destroy munitions on January 9 at a rate of about 1,000 a day. Interior Minister Purachai Piumsomboon said residents nearby had been evacuated to the city halls of Pak Chong, Klang Dong and Muak Lek districts. Purachai said he had also instructed local police to step up security in the communities evacuated for fear of theft. He said no one from within a two-kilometre radius of the arsenal should return home until officials had cleared the area. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expressed concern over the second blast, saying he had assigned deputy defence minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa to investigate the incident. "I was shocked because this has happened so frequently in this country, so I assigned General Yuthasak to examine the cause," he said. "I was upset that it re-occurred." He added that he had called on the military to speed up the destruction of obsolete weapons kept at the site. According to some reports, there have been as many as 12 different arms-depot explosions since 1978 in Thailand. At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured in the massive explosions that rocked the arms depot at Pak Chong in October. Residents battle fear Those evacuated from the neighbourhood near the army arsenal in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district were frightened and anxious after the second round of explosions at the site. Duangkhae Janphen, 45, lived one kilometre away from the arsenal. She said she was worried about her children and cousins who went to school before she left home for the evacuation shelter. Officials had told her that they had been evacuated from the schools, but she did not know where they were sheltered. Huang Wontakhu, 52, said she was eating lunch when the first blast went off. She immediately left home with other family members and fled to Khao Yai National Park. They were forced to move to the evacuation shelter in Pak Chong city hall later because officials would not allow them to return home. Uthai Janmuenwai, a fourth grader at Tha Luean Nong Sarai School, said he was in an art class when the explosions began. His teacher told him and his friends to run, so he ran as fast as he could, not daring to look back. "I'm so afraid of death," said the boy. His mother, Saneh, was fortunate enough to be quickly reunited with her son at the evacuation shelter. However, she had not yet been able to locate her own parents. "What I want to do now is to sell my house and move away," said Saneh. Safety among Thai people is not of a big priority and it is a culture that shrugs at the need to have proper safety procedures. hence, the high mortality rate as a result of myriad accidents, particularly traffic and in industry. Powder found in spent shells Residents of Tambon Nong Sarai in Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, said the slow rate of the Army’s disposal of old ammunition at its arsenal in the district was due to concerns about selling spent shells to a nearby melting plant. This is because corrupt arm officers were making money on the side by selling the shells--a highly dangerous and illegal activity. Disposed of shells containing gunpowder had caused explosions at a melting facility in Bangkok supplied by the local plant. But because those injured or killed were only lowly factory workers, and not members of the wealthy factory owner's factory, no one dared complain nor did anyone seem to care less. Meanwhile, the director of the Army’s Ordnance Department, Lt General Akart Wongkoet, and two other officers were transferred to inactive posts at Army headquarters the morning of January 30. To protect the public from any further explosions, the Army planned to move all arsenals out of residential areas, particularly in Bangkok and Nonthaburi province. They have said this many times before, but nothing changes, and explosions continue to occur regularly with many casualties and destruction in neighbouring communities. The Janaury 29 explosions killed one soldier instantly, and injured five other soldiers and nine civilians. The soldier’s body was discovered the following day, about 10 metres from the site of the blast. “What people here really want now is for the ammunition destruction to be over as soon as possible,” a resident of Ban Khao Sadet village in Tambon Nong Sarai said. A scrap trader in Khok Sanga village said he had bought a large number of used shells from people in the neighbourhood since October 25. He resold the shells to an iron melting plant in the district. The plant, however, usually supplied the shells to a larger plant in Bangkok. Some spent shells containing residual gunpowder had recently caused explosions at the melting plant in the capital, the scrap trader said. Following this, the Bangkok plant had asked its Pak Chong supplier to clean the shells before sending them, he said. Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, meanwhile, instructed the Army’s Ordnance Department to accelerate the destruction of old ammunition by destroying between 10,000 and 20,000 pieces at a time. This should allow the Army to rid itself of the remaining 40,000 pieces of ammunition soon, he said. The minister also suggested local residents be evacuated before such a destruction session. Chavalit said the Army planned to move the arsenal in Tambon Nong Sarai to the Khao Yai Thiang area in the same district, which he said would cost an estimated 900 million baht (1 US Dollar = 44.21 Thai Baht). The Defence Ministry also planned to move all arsenals away from residential areas, particularly the arsenal near Salak Temple in Nonthaburi province and other arsenals in Bangkok. Deputy Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha, meanwhile, confirmed that Chavalit had approved the transfer of three senior Army officers in charge of the Pak Chong arsenal to inactive posts at Army headquarters. They were Army Ordnance Department director Akart; the chief of the department’s ordnance division; and the chief of the department’s explosives division. The three were transferred because they failed to step up explosion prevention measures at the arsenal following the first explosion in October, said Yuthasak. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was informed about the transfers and was satisfied with the step, he added. Protests at explosives company About 100 residents of five villages in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district on January 29 rallied in front of Orika Explosive Company, demanding that it remove its dynamite plant from their community. Jarin Udomrit, a rally leader and headman of Nong Namdaeng 6 village, said his group had lodged complaints with the provincial government several times, calling for the relocation of the company's plant. The provincial government, however, had not responded, probably because the company's officials were paying him and his staff to delay the decision--a common ploy by the wealthy owners of factories the public considers a nuisance. Orika Explosive was formerly known as Chai International Development. "Although no explosion has yet taken place at the plant, who would be responsible for our safety if an explosion were to take place?" Jarin said. The protest coincided with the new explosion at the army arsenal in nearby Tambon Nong Sarai. District chief forced out of job The chief of Pak Chong district was transferred out of Nakhon Ratchasima province on Janaury 31 following the explosion at the army arsenal in the district. Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Sunthorn Rewlueang ordered Pak Chong District Chief Phairot Panja out of the province for causing residents to distrust officials of local government. The transfer came after about 100 residents of Tambon Nong Mai Daeng in Pak Chong district rallied again on January 31 in front of the Chai Interdevelopment Co explosives manufacturing plant. They demanded the plant be moved away from their community. The protesters, led by the administrative chairman of Nong Mai Daeng Administration Council, Somsak Tamkrathok, had earlier lodged a complaint against Chai Interdevelopment on December 18, 2001. After an urgent meeting with the provincial industrial officer, the Pak Chong district chief and the Pak Chong forestry officer, Governor Sunthorn said he had been informed by the Pak Chong forestry officer on January 31 that Chai Interdevelopment illegally occupied a large area belonging to three national forest reserves – Khao Siad Ah, Pah Khao Nokyoong and Pah Khao Ang Hin. The forestry office has already filed a lawsuit against the company. Chai Interdevelopment had applied for renewal of its plant operation license, said Sunthorn. But because of public fears following the two arsenal explosions, the provincial government would not for the time being act on the license renewal. The Pak Chong district office’s actions on this matter were too slow, said Sunthorn, prompting a public outcry. As a result the governor ordered the immediate transfer of the district chief. According to a representative of Chai Interdevelopment, Akhom Jitpharawanit, the company originally obtained its operating license from the Defence Industry Department of the Defence Ministry. Because of huge bribes paid to corrupt officials it had been able to operate on illegally occupied land. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that civil servants should step up their efficiency or be held responsible for their negligence.