The Lawyers Council of Thailand expects to start filing lawsuits free of charge for victims of the fireworks warehouse explosion in Narathiwat next week.
Wichien Chubthaisong, president of the council, said on Sunday that about 50 volunteer lawyers were gathering documents from victims to prepare lawsuits against a couple who owned the warehouse and seven companies that smuggled fireworks and illegally kept the merchandise there.
The legal assistance was intended to cover the cases of 11 people killed in the warehouse blast near the Muno market in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat, near the border with Malaysia, on July 29 as well as 389 injured people, 649 damaged houses and three devastated schools. Damages were estimated at about 240 million baht.
"Gathered information is quite complete. Some lawsuits should be filed next week," Mr Wichien said.
The couple who owned the illegal warehouse were identified as Piyanuch Puengwirawat and her husband Sompong Nakul, both 42. They surrendered to police early last month.
Among the victims, Hilwanee Yuso said she was grateful to the Lawyers Council of Thailand for helping victims who would be otherwise unable to file a lawsuit on their own.
She said her house stood about 80 metres from the blast warehouse, and also operated as a local eatery. Since it was damaged, she had received no income. The woman said she had lost 70-80% of her hearing ability after the explosion.
Earlier deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said 16 local government officials in Sungai Kolok would be also prosecuted for the operation of the illegal warehouse. They included policemen, local administrators at the sub-district level and customs officials.
The warehouse was originally licensed to be a shop for farm equipment and kitchenware and later modified to illegally store fireworks, a controlled product.
Police believed about one tonne of fireworks had been stored before the blast.