NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Authorities have cordoned off the area around a scrapyard in Wang Nam Khieo district after finding many unexploded shells collected by local residents from a nearby military exercise site, following a fatal explosion on Tuesday morning.
An evacuation order was issued for the area within a 100-metre radius of house number 130 in Non Srithong village of tambon Udomsap where the explosion killed a woman and seriously injured four others at 8.45am on Tuesday.
Police from the Udomsap station cordoned off the area as bomb experts initially found four unexploded shells including an M79 grenade, a rocket-propelled grenade and anti-aircraft artillery shells in the compound of the house. A bomb squad was continuing to search for more explosives.
The deceased was identified as Somjai Phanomyai, 61. According to police, she and her 66-year-old husband, Kittisak, had arrived from Buri Ram province in a pickup truck to buy scrap at the house for resale.
Somjai was weighing an artillery shell in a sack but its tip pointed downwards and detonated its explosive when it touched the scale, police said after questioning witnesses.
Her husband, two scrap collectors and the 52-year-old house owner, Krueawan Sing-ngon, were severely injured with multiple shrapnel wounds. (Story continues below)
The artillery shell found at the junkyard. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)
Nitaya Roiking, head of Ban Non Srithong village, said that two families in her village usually collected shells to sell for scrap from a Second Army drill site on Phu Lamyai mountain while picking wild vegetables.
People entered the exercise area located about three kilometres from the village after each drill to collect shells, assuming that they had already exploded, the village head said.
“Such incidents have occurred in other villages but this was the first such explosion in Ban Non Srithong village,” said Ms Nitaya.
“I have warned people not to [collect shells] but some people were stubborn and thought it would be safe, assuming all the shells had already exploded following each drill.”
The two injured scrap collectors were identified as Kamlai Sanpen, 50, and her husband Tharapong Ingpanchakan, 61.
Boonliang Timrat, the 73-year-old mother of Ms Kamlai, said her daughter and son-in-law usually joined hundreds of people from local villages to collect vegetables and shell casings on Phu Lamyai.
“They returned with metal scrap after each round of collecting and my daughter said she sold the scrap at good prices,” Ms Boonliang said.
She said she did not follow the couple to the scrapyard as usual on Tuesday morning because she had to pay electricity bills. Her daughter and son-in-law had severe wounds to their limbs and abdomen.
Investigators check the scene of the explosion, a scrapyard in Wang Nam Khieo district of Nakhon Ratchasima, on Tuesday morning. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)