A suspected second World War bomb has exploded in the Thai capital as scrap metal workers tried to cut it open with a blow torch, killing at least seven people and injuring 19, police said.
Construction workers found the shell at a construction site and brought it to a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok to be cut up.
“We believe the bomb dates back to World War Two and weighed about 227kg. As they probably did not know [what to do], they used a blow torch to try to cut open the bomb,” police superintendent Kamthorn Uicharoen said.
“The explosion created a three-meter deep crater.”
Pools of blood and body parts were scattered on the floor of the warehouse.
Reuters camera footage showed just the shell of the building remained, its interior a mesh of twisted metal as firefighters doused flames and burning embers.
Allied bombing raids on Bangkok began in 1942. Japan used the country at the time as a staging post for its invasions of Burma and Malaya.
Reuters
