Bangkok, Jan 18 (EFE).- Thai authorities said Thursday they would review the law after an explosion killed 23 people in a fireworks factory in a central province.
Akkaadet Wongpitakrote, the Thai lower house’s Industrial Affairs Committee spokesperson, said he would request a meeting with interior ministry and industrial works department representatives to discuss the laws, which he called obsolete.
Under the 1992 Factories Law, factories with fewer than 50 workers or equipped with machinery of less than 50 horsepower do not require a license from the department.
Akkaadet said that according to these requirements, the majority of the country’s fireworks factories are outside the control of authorities, public broadcaster Thai PBS said.
The proposal to review the laws comes amid a Wednesday afternoon explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphanburi province, about 120 kilometers north of Bangkok, which left at least 23 dead.
The factory, located between rice fields and far from residential areas, was completely destroyed by the blast, which occurred at about 3:30pm local time (08:30 GMT) and sent debris flying everywhere.
Police told the media that the factory, which employed about 30 people, had all the required permits.
Authorities are investigating on the ground the causes of the explosion, which are currently unknown.
Forensic teams are trying to identify the 22 bodies they have found, while they search for the remains of another worker presumed dead and do not rule out an increase in the number of deaths.
Local media reported that the same Suphanburi factory already registered a fire in November 2022 that caused one death and three injuries.
Thailand has a poor factory safety record and has registered several fatal incidents at fireworks factories.
In July 2023, 10 people were killed and about 100 injured in an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the southern city of Sungai Kolok, near the border with Malaysia. EFE
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