An explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Thailand kills at least 15 people and wounds 115

A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand on Saturday killed at least 15 people and wounded scores, officials said.
The governor of the province of Narathiwas, Sanan Pongaksorn, told public broadcaster Thai PBS that also at least 115 people were hurt, and that many were in serious condition. He said about 500 to 800 people who live nearby may have to be moved to a temporary shelter. He did not elaborate.
Videos posted on social media from the site show 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 have collapsed roofs and walls.
About 100 residences in the area were also damaged, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Sanan, the local governor, said the blast was likely ignited by construction work that was taking place in the warehouse, with flares from metal welding causing the fireworks stored inside to catch fire and explode.

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.

Witness Seksan Taesen, who lives 100 metres (328 feet) away from the warehouse, said there was “chaos” after the blast. 

“I was playing with my phone inside the house then suddenly, I heard a loud, thunderous noise and my whole house shook,” Seksan told AFP.

“Then I saw my roof was wide open. I looked outside and I saw houses collapsing and people lying on the ground everywhere. It was chaos.”