Victims to sue Map Ta Phut manufacturers causing blasts and fires

BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) - Affected people plan to file criminal and civil lawsuits against manufacturers at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong province in the Thai East whose factories caused recent accidents and harm their health, as the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEA) allows the public to check safety and to take part in working out an emergency plan for the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate. Suthichai Atchasai, a representative of a network of easterners, said Tuesday that the locals would file criminal and civil lawsuits against both the IEA and the manufacturers for the reckless incidents last weekend, which killed people and damaged property. IEA Deputy Governor Peerawat Rungruangsri, meanwhile, said that four factories near the Bangkok Synthetics (BST) plant at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, where explosions, followed by massive fires, took place, have been affected, as their glass buildings and vehicles were damaged, and that concerned officials are checking whether their production and infrastructure have also been affected. The IEA deputy governor admitted that accidents were repeated at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate and loopholes have existed, promising to solve the problem and let local people take part in improving safety measures, especially those concerning evacuation. According to the IEA chief, representatives of the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, the Pollution Control Department, a disaster prevention office and local communities will check the quality of water in local canals and the sea, as well as the quality of air Wednesday and will then discuss measures to contain impacts of chemical substances used to extinguish last weekend's fires at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate. Rayong Governor Seni Jittakasem told reporters that about nine people were killed and some 120 others were injured in the blasts and massive fires at the BST plant last Saturday, and that the blazes were completely put out Sunday afternoon. Last Saturday, twelve people were killed and 142 others were injured in the explosion and fire at the BTS petrochemical factory at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong province. A day afterward, over a hundred people were hospitalized after chlorine leaked from Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) factory in nearby Hemaraj Industrial Estate. (TNA)