Thread: The Shipping News: Oil tanker explodes at Samut Songkhram

Adding to the smoke haze

Seven missing in deadly tanker blast southwest of Bangkok
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2023



An oil tanker exploded at a quay in Samut Songkhram's Muang district on Tuesday morning, killing at least one person with seven still missing. Four people were reported injured in the blast, which reportedly occurred during welding maintenance work on the tanker.
The blast happened at 9am as the tanker was moored at the quay for maintenance in Laem Yai subdistrict, at the mouth of the Mae Klong River. Samut Songkhram's governor Somnuk Promkiew said the tanker was loaded with fuel, both oil and diesel. The explosion caused a fire that sent a plume of thick, black smoke billowing over the Samut Songkhram skyline, 80 kilometres southwest of Bangkok.

Welding going on with a tanker filled with fuel products? Someone ignored H&S regulations?

One person died, nine were injured and seven are missing after an empty oil tanker caught fire, which was followed by explosions, while it was undergoing maintenance at a dockyard on the Mae Klong River in Mueang district of Samut Songkhram on Tuesday morning.


According to an advisor to the Labour Minister, there were eight men working on the tanker when the first explosion occurred. The foreman, who was in the engine room, then told the workers to leave the ship immediately. Three more explosions were then heard on board the ship.


According to the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre, there was an explosion on the Smooth Sea 22 tanker at about 9.17am, in the dockyard of Ruam Mitr Dockyard Company in Laem Yai sub-district.


The explosion shattered windows in a few houses near the dockyard and some people sustained minor injuries. More people were later found to be injured and one of them died. Seven others are still unaccounted for.


Samut Songkhram Governor Somnuk Phromkeaw said this afternoon (Tuesday) that the fire was mostly under control, adding that a relief command centre has been set up to take care of about 80 crew of the vessel, including about 30 Thais.


The oil tanker moored at the dockyard on January 12th, after it had unloaded all of its oil.

One dead, 9 injured, 7 missing after oil tanker fire in Samut Songkhram dockyard | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

After the blast; 2 confirmed dead
from Thairath 18 January 2023

So, the vapour and gases from the stored oil products were ignited by the welding arcs and exploded.

How very Thai.

Yet another Thai death certificate where the cause could be attributed to 1. Massive trauma from explosion. 1a. Stupidity.

Poorly trained burmese labourers on negligable wages. Apparently a severed leg was blown over 500 metres from the ship by the power of the blast.

Indeed, would have been quite powerful.

seven are missing

They'll be lucky to even find their flipflops.

Originally Posted by taxexile

Poorly trained burmese labourers on negligable wages. Apparently a severed leg was blown over 500 metres from the ship by the power of the blast.

To me, it's not so much the poor training of workers but the complete absence of any safety procedures in place, showing the complete disregard of the ship owners/management towards the labourers who no doubt were earning a pittance. These kind of tragedies shouldn't be possible.

Originally Posted by Mendip

These kind of tragedies shouldn't be possible.

There's normally one Thai sexpat around this stage in one of these many tragic threads who will pop up with "This could happen in any Country"

This could happen in any country.

Eight bodies found after oil tank fire, search continues for one missing man

Rescue teams recovered five out of six bodies found on Wednesday in the Mae Klong River, bringing the confirmed death toll in the oil tanker fire and explosion to eight. One is still missing.


Dozens of rescue workers, including divers equipped with underwater scanners, and jet skiers resumed the search within a 100-metre radius of the oil tanker, which caught fire and exploded yesterday morning (Tuesday) in the Ruam Mitr Dockyard in Mueang district of Samut Songkhram province.


An official from a rescue team said that divers are having to exercise extreme caution, because there is a lot of steel debris from the tanker under the water.


At about 9am, rescue workers found one body floating in the river about 120 metres from the damaged tanker. The body was later brought ashore to be identified by his relatives.


Five more bodies were found and all except one were recovered and brought ashore. Rescue officials said that the last body was in 4-metres of water and is yet to be recovered.


All the recovered victims are Myanmar people working at the dockyard. The body yet to be recovered and the missing man are also believed to be Myanmar nationals.


Relatives of the dockyard employees have been waiting anxiously in front of the dockyard, hoping for the return of their loved ones. Some of them were seen weeping.


A CCTV system installed at the dockyard captured the explosion. It is reported that the force shattered windows in several houses, located about 5 km from the oil tanker.


It took firemen about seven hours to put out the fire. Forensic officers and police then boarded the vessel for an inspection, during which they found a body, believed to be a ship maintenance worker.


Deputy Director-General of the Marine Department Phuripat Theerakulpisut said that the oil tanker was in the process of being cleaned before undergoing maintenance.


He said that a panel will be set up to find out how the explosion occurred and whether safety measures were strictly applied when the vessel being cleaned, adding that he expects the results of the probe within ten days.


Eight bodies found after oil tank fire, search continues for one missing man | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world