Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen contacted the Thai press on Friday night (Jan 20) to expressly explain that “there was no ระเบิด” (in Thai, ระเบิด can mean bomb or explosion) in the incident, despite the initial report by people at the scene.
In the incident last Friday, Chakkri Sawekwang, 31, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, remained unconscious and unresponsive at the scene. Rescue workers performed CPR on Mr Chakkri while he was still on the boat then rushed him to Vachira Phuket Hospital.
The first-responders managed to revive the other workman, who gave his nickname as “Got”. Mr Got said that an explosion came from below deck. A red extinguisher was found on the main deck of the boat, where the two workmen were found.
However, rescue workers did not report any serious burns or broken bones on either of the two men. (See story here.)
“There was no explosion in the engine room. The cause of injures was lack of oxygen,” Gen Teeraphol said.
“The workers took a fire extinguisher which contained nitrogen gas inside the engine room while they were doing their work,” he said.
“After they finished their work, they put the fire extinguisher back. The pin on the extinguisher slipped off, which released nitrogen gas. The nitrogen replaced oxygen in the air. The engine room had little space, so there was a little air flow,” he added.
“The two workers were deprived of oxygen and fell unconscious. There was no explosion in the engine room,” Gen Theerapol repeated.
Gen Teeraphol made no explanation of the explosion reported by Mr Got, one of the workers involved in the incident.
Gen Teeraphol also made no mention of the condition of Mr Chakkri, who at last report at the scene was being kept alive through CPR.
Staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday confirmed to The Phuket News that Mr Chakkri was alive and still recovering in the intensive-care unit (ICU). However, they declined to reveal more details.
Maj Somchai Noobun of the Phuket Provincial Police, who is investigating the incident, told The Phuket News yesterday, “Phuket Forensic Police are investigating this and we are waiting for Mr Got to come in for questioning.
“For now we presume that the cause of the incident was lack of oxygen as the pin of a gas extinguisher had slipped off,” he added.
“There was no explosion,” he said.
However, Maj Somchai said he could not personally confirm anything about the state of the fire extinguisher found at the scene
“We have to wait for forensic police to present their findings,” he said.