A bomb exploded near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok yesterday killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 120.
The shrine is a major tourist attraction and foreigners, including two Malaysians were among casualties. The explosion took place at the Rajprasong intersection—the same place where many of the recent political demonstrations were held.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit told reporters, “We are not sure if it is politically motivated but they aim to harm our economy and we will hunt them down.”
The explosion occurred at about 7pm on Monday and no one has taken responsibility for the explosion at the time of this writing.
According to The Star Online, a Malaysian embassy official from the capital confirmed that two Malaysians also lost their lives due to the explosion. Thai media centre identified a Malaysian man and a woman among eight other foreign nationals.
According to The Star, the two are Neoh Jai Aun and Lim Saw Sek who were believed to have been enjoying a holiday in Bangkok.
Two Chinese nationals, two citizens of Hong Kong, two Malaysians, one Singaporean and five Thais were among those who were killed. The rest have yet to be identified.
Along with the significant number of fatalities, several cars and motorcycles were also damaged.
Vice news reports that national police chief Somyot Poompummuang said, “Those who have planted this bomb are cruel. They aim to kill because everyone knows that at 7 p.m the shrine is crowded with Thais and foreigners. Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of dead people.”
The country’s national chief said that a bomb on a motorcycle caused the blast.
According to The Star Online, an unconfirmed police report also states that there is a possibility of two other bombs—indicating that those responsible wanted to cause major damage.
Since the wake of the attack, a video of the attack has been surfacing on social media.
And you can check it out below. Do note that the video contains graphic imagery.
https://twitter.com/dekdue_03/status/633257846969208832
Here’s a video that also captures the moments right after the blast.
According to The Malaysian Insider, Marko Cunningham a paramedic said, “There were bodies everywhere. Some were shredded. There were legs where heads were supposed to be. It was horrific.”