SAMUT PRAKAN: Four scrap collectors were injured on Saturday when an LPG cylinder used for a car exploded at a pavilion in Bang Sao Thong district after one of them tried to remove a cover bolt.
The explosion occurred in Soi 14 at the Bang Phli Muang Mai housing estate in tambon Bang Sao Thong, said Pol Capt Vithoon Phengbuppa, deputy investigation chief at the Bang Sao Thong station, who was alerted at around 11.30am.
Police, firefighters and rescue workers found three men and one woman with burns on their bodies and faces after an LPG cylinder had caught fire, which spread to the pavilion. Firefighters managed to put out the blaze.
The four injured people were given first aid before being taken to Bang Bo Hospital.
Police said the injured people were scrap collectors who were staying at the pavilion. They had been drinking while Khai Khothot, 36, who was among the injured, prepared a meal.
One of the men took an empty LPG cylinder he had collected from another location and was using a metal tool to break the cover bolt, not realising that there was still some gas left inside. The gas escaped from the cylinder and then exploded. All sustained burns.
An LPG cylinder is moved away from a pavilion in Samut Prakan after it caught fire and exploded. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)