Aluminium Factory Fire Destroys Myanmar Worker's Gold and Cash
A fire destroyed an aluminium manufacturing plant in Samut Sakhon on Wednesday, incinerating a Myanmar worker's life savings of 200,000 baht and 152 grammes of gold kept at his workstation.
SAMUT SAKHON — A massive fire ripped through an aluminium manufacturing plant in Samut Sakhon province on Wednesday, destroying the life savings of a Myanmar worker who kept gold and cash at his workstation.
At about 10:00 on Wednesday, the radio centre at Krathum Baen Police Station received reports of a fire at an aluminium manufacturing company in Moo 1, Tha Sao subdistrict, Krathum Baen district, Samut Sakhon. More than 10 fire engines from the Tha Sao Subdistrict Administrative Organisation and nearby municipalities responded to the blaze.
Krathum Baen District Chief Phirunrot Nakdontree directed the emergency response as incident commander alongside Krathum Baen police superintendent Pol. Col. Phasapong Monta, Tha Sao SAO president Wallop Thongphat and Deputy Investigating Officer Sub-Lt. Natthiphat Naksang.
The factory, which manufactures steel rebar, aluminium sheets and custom aluminium castings, covers more than 10 rai (16,000 square metres). The industrial complex comprises four warehouse buildings.
The fire broke out in the fourth warehouse at the rear of the compound, an area covering slightly more than one rai used for processing and moulding aluminium sheets. The intense heat caused parts of the roof and structural framework to collapse, damaging machinery and manufacturing equipment. No injuries or deaths were reported.
A Myanmar supervisor at the factory pleaded with firefighters to let him enter the damaged warehouse to search for 10 baht-weight of gold bullion, approximately 152 grammes, and 200,000 baht in cash kept in a bag inside his desk drawer. However, neither the cash nor the gold could be recovered.
Phirunrot ordered the Tha Sao SAO to close the damaged warehouse and designate it a hazardous area off-limits to the public until further notice. He also instructed local authorities to work with forensic experts from the Forensic Science Division and other agencies to investigate the cause of the fire.
