Eight people died and seven were injured when they accidentally triggered a fire extinguisher system in the headquarters of a major Thai bank, releasing a suffocating cloud of chemicals.
The accident occurred late on Sunday night in the basement of the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of the country’s largest financial institutions.
SCB said contractors had been working to improve the building’s chemical fire extinguishers but mistakenly set off the system, releasing chemicals that likely caused oxygen levels to plummet.
“The work may have triggered (the) Pyrogen aerosol which, once it works, will decrease oxygen, that could cause people’s injuries and death,” the bank said in a statement.
Pyrogen manufactures a type of aerosol fire extinguisher that is used in places where putting out a fire with water would damage documents or electrical equipment.
On its website the company says its aerosol does not deplete oxygen. But it also advises against using it in occupied rooms and says “accidental exposure should be limited to five minutes”.
Bangkok’s Erawan emergency medical centre said five people were killed at the scene while three died in hospital.
Seven workers were injured and remained in hospital, the centre added.
“SCB would like to express its sympathy to those injured and killed,” the bank said in its statement, adding it was cooperating with police.
The bank said the rest of the building was not affected and was open for business.
The bank released a statement on Monday saying: “Gas pyrogens intended to extinguish fires opened and kept oxygen out resulting in injuries and death”.
“Eight people died as a result and seven injured people are in hospital,” the bank said.
Those killed were contractors and a security guard, police said.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
